Aces will be wild Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park.
The Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets are playing the rubber match of their three-game set, and both teams will send Cy Young Award hopefuls to the mound. Boston will give the ball to Chris Sale, who is expected to go three innings as he continues to rebuild his shoulder strength, while the Mets will counter with Jacob deGrom and his Major League Baseball-leading 1.71 ERA.
To put it lightly: This will be one of the best pitching matchups of the 2018 season.
The Red Sox will start Brock Holt at shortstop and Steve Pearce at designated hitter, as both Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez get the day off. Christian Vazquez will handle catching duties and bat ninth for manager Alex Cora’s club.
The Red Sox’s magic number to clinch the American League East currently is four.
Here are both teams’ lineups for Sunday’s game:
RED SOX (102-47)
Mookie Betts, RF
Brock Holt, SS
Andrew Benintendi, LF
Steve Pearce, DH
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Rafael Devers, 3B
Christian Vazquez, C
Chris Sale, LHP (12-4, 1.96 ERA)
METS (69-79)
Amed Rosario, SS
Jeff McNeil, 2B
Wilmer Flores, 1B
Michael Conforto, LF
Jay Bruce, DH
Todd Frazier, 3B
Brandon Nimmo, RF
Kevin Plawecki, C
Austin Jackson, CF
Jacob deGrom, RHP 8-9, 1.71 ERA)