The Boston Red Sox almost were unstoppable in the month of April and they’ll look to keep their hot play to begin May without one of their hottest hitters.
Mookie Betts, who left Saturday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Rays with a sore hamstring, will miss his third straight game Tuesday as he continues to rest his leg. Andrew Benintendi will assume Betts’ spot in the order, batting leadoff and playing center field. Hanley Ramirez will have the designated hitter duties and bat second with J.D. Martinez rounding out the top of the lineup hitting third and manning left field.
Boston will send ace Chris Sale to the mound opposite Royals right-hander Jakob Junis. Sale had a pedestrian first month of the season, recording a 2-1 record with a 2.30 ERA in six April starts.
Junis has been one of the lone bright spots for a Royals team that is on pace to lose more than 100 games after the first month of the season, but the Sox have dominated right-handed pitching in the first 28 games. Opposing righties are 1-13 with a 7.86 ERA against Boston this season.
Here are the full lineups for Tuesday’s Red Sox-Royals game:
BOSTON RED SOX (21-7)
Andrew Benintendi, CF
Hanley Ramirez, DH
J.D. Martinez, LF
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Rafael Devers, 3B
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Christian Vazquez, C
Tzu-Wei Lin, SS
Chris Sale, LHP (2-1, 2.31 ERA)
KANSAS CITY ROYALS (7-21)
Whit Merrifield, 2B
Jorge Soler, DH
Cheslor Cuthbert, 3B
Salvador Perez, C
Jon Jay, RF
Abraham Almonte, CF
Lucas Duda, 1B
Alcides Escobar, SS
Alex Gordon, LF
Jakob Junis, RHP (3-2, 3.34 ERA)
