The Boston Red Sox need a spark for their offense, and they hope to find it Tuesday when top prospect Rafael Devers makes his Major League Baseball debut against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.
Devers will hit ninth and play third base on the same field that left fielder Andrew Benintendi, who will bat second and play left field, made his big league debut last season.
While Devers tore up both Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket this season, he won’t have an easy task in his debut, as the Mariners will send ace Felix Hernandez to the mound to try and win the series.
The rest of the Red Sox’s lineup has a familiar feel to it, as Xander Bogaerts will return to play shortstop and hit sixth, while Mitch Moreland is back at first base and batting seventh.
Boston will counter Hernandez with Drew Pomeranz, who has been on quite a tear recently. The left-hander has won a career-high four straight decisions and has delivered nine quality starts in his last 11 outings. Pomeranz is 7-1 with a 2.57 ERA in that span, and the Red Sox have tallied a 9-2 record in his starts since he lasted just four innings in a start against the Oakland Athletics on May 20.
The Red Sox now have lost three games in a row after their 4-0 loss to Seattle on Monday, and need to win the final two games against the Mariners to go .500 on their current road trip.
Here are the complete lineups for Tuesday’s Red Sox vs. Mariners game.
RED SOX (55-46)
Mookie Betts, RF
Andrew Benintendi, LF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, DH
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Christian Vazquez, C
Rafael Devers, 3B
Drew Pomeranz, LHP (10-4, 3.51 ERA)
MARINERS (50-51)
Jean Segura, SS
Danny Valencia, 1B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nelson Cruz, DH
Kyle Seager, 3B
Mitch Haniger, RF
Ben Gamel, LF
Guillermo Heredia, CF
Mike Zunino, C
Felix Hernandez, RHP (5-4, 3.88 ERA)
Thumbnail photo via Jonathan Dyer/USA TODAY Sports Images
