Chris Young will start Thursday night for the Boston Red Sox even with right-hander Jhoulys Chacin on the mound for the Atlanta Braves.
Young, who was signed over the offseason largely because of his offensive prowess versus left-handed pitching, is penciled into the No. 7 spot in Boston’s order. He’ll play left field as the Red Sox host the Braves at Fenway Park in the final game of a home-and-home.
Young is batting .174 (4-for-23) with a .544 OPS in 14 games this season. The 32-year-old is 2-for-14 with eight strikeouts against right-handers.
Mookie Betts (right field) and Jackie Bradley Jr. (center field) will join Young in the Red Sox’s outfield, batting leadoff and eighth, respectively.
Christian Vazquez will be back behind the dish with Clay Buchholz toeing the rubber. Buchholz allowed five earned runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings while suffering the loss in his last start Saturday against the Houston Astros.
The complete lineups for Thursday night’s Red Sox-Braves game are below.
RED SOX (12-9)
Mookie Betts, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
David Ortiz, DH
Hanley Ramirez, 1B
Travis Shaw, 3B
Chris Young, LF
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Christian Vazquez, C
Clay Buchholz (0-2, 6.33 ERA)
BRAVES (4-17)
Nick Markakis, RF
Daniel Castro, 3B
Adonis Garcia, DH
Freddie Freeman, 1B
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Jeff Francoeur, LF
Jace Peterson, 2B
Erick Aybar, SS
Mallex Smith, CF
Jhoulys Chacin, RHP (0-1, 3.18 ERA)
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
