The Boston Red Sox continue to make history to start the 2018 season, and they’ll look to continue their dominance with their ace on the mound Saturday night against the Oakland Athletics.
Chris Sale gets the nod as his team looks to make it nine straight wins and reach an incredible 18 victories through its first 20 games. The lefty is looking for his second win of the campaign after coming off his shortest start of the season Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles, in which he went five innings while striking out eight.
The offense looks to remain hot as well. Mitch Moreland hit the teams’ fifth grand slam Friday night and Jackie Bradley Jr. added a three-run shot, making that 13 home runs in Boston’s four games. Every player, with the exception of Christian Vazquez, had at least one hit in Friday’s 7-3 victory.
The lineup for the Red Sox looks a bit different than Friday, with J.D. Martinez sliding back into the four spot after he got the night off for the first game of the series. Vazquez and Brock Holt will sit out Saturday’s bout.
Oakland will send right-hander Sean Manaea to the bump as he’ll try his luck against the red-hot Boston bats that rocked the Athletics pitching in Friday night’s win to the tune of seven runs on 11 hits. Manaea has pitched well this season, striking out 20 batters through 27 2/3 innings of work with a 1.63 ERA through four starts.
Here are the full lineups for Saturday’s Red Sox-Athletics game:
RED SOX (17-2)
Mookie Betts, RF
Andrew Benintendi, LF
Hanley Ramirez, 1B
J.D. Martinez, DH
Eduardo Nunez, 2B
Rafael Devers, 3B
Sandy Leon, C
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Tzu-Wei Lin, SS
Chris Sale, LHP (1-0, 1.23 ERA)
OAKLAND ATHLETICS (9-11)
Marcus Semien, SS
Stephen Piscotty, RF
Jed Lowrie, 2B
Khris Davis, DH
Matt Chapman, 3B
Matt Olson, 1B
Mark Canha, CF
Chad Pinder, LF
Jonathan Lucroy, C
Sean Manaea, RHP (2-2, 1.63 ERA)
