The Boston Red Sox opened their West Coast road trip with a resounding 10-1 pummelling of Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night, stretching their current win streak to five games.
Boston will look to make it two straight over the Angels on Wednesday night when they send right-hander Rick Porcello to the mound at Angel Stadium. The 2016 American League Cy Young Award winner has enjoyed a strong start to the 2018Â campaign, posting wins in each of his first three starts while allowing only four earned runs over 19 2/3 innings.
LA will counter with left-hander Tyler Skaggs, who has been solid during his first three starts. The 26-year-old has surrendered three runs in 16 innings while posting a 2-0 record and striking out 17 batters.
The Red Sox’s lineup will look a little different against Skaggs, as Alex Cora has elected to give left fielder Andrew Benintendi the night off, meaning that Hanley Ramirez will slot into the No. 2 hole as the designated hitter and J.D. Martinez will bat third and play left field with first baseman Mitch Moreland hitting cleanup.
Mookie Betts remains in the leadoff spot and will look to stay hot after launching three home runs in Tuesday’s win.
Here are the full lineups for Wednesday’s Red Sox-Angels game:
BOSTON RED SOX (14-2)
Mookie Betts, RF
Hanley Ramirez, DH
J.D. Martinez, LF
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Eduardo Nunez, 2B
Rafael Devers, 3B
Sandy Leon, C
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Tzu-Wei Lin, SS
Rick Porcello, RHP (3-0, 1.83 ERA)
LOS ANGELES ANGELS (13-4)
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Mike Trout, CF
Justin Upton, LF
Albert Pujols, DH
Kole Calhoun, RF
Zack Cozart, 3B
Luis Valbuena, 1B
Andrelton Simmons, SS
Martin Maldonado, C
Tyler Skaggs, LHP (2-0, 1.69 ERA)
