Red Sox Vs. Twins Lineups: Christian Vazquez Moves Up Order For Opener

Christian Vazquez’s journey up and down the Boston Red Sox lineup continues Monday in Minnesota.

The red-hot Red Sox catcher will bat second and serve as the designated hitter for Alex Cora’s club as the Sox open a four-game set against the Twins.

Vazquez comes in on a seven-game hitting streak, going 13-for-31 with a pair of home runs and three doubles for Boston. In just nine games, Vazquez already has started games hitting fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth in the Boston batting order before being penciled into the No. 2 spot Monday.

With Vazquez starting at DH, J.D. Martinez goes out to right field, he looks to continue an absurd start to the season. Martinez leads all of baseball with 12 extra-base hits, the most by an American League player through eight games of a season. Martinez blasted three of Boston’s six home runs Sunday, as the Sox completed a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. The slugger is hitting .472 (17-for-36) with five home runs and 16 (!) RBIs through his first eight games.

Martin Perez gets the start on the mound for the Red Sox after allowing three runs on five hits in five innings in his first start of the season. He’ll be opposed by Minnesota lefty J.A. Happ.

First pitch from Target Field is set for 2:05 p.m. ET and can be seen on NESN.

Here are the lineups for Monday’s Red Sox-Twins series opener.

RED SOX (6-3)
Kiké Hernández, CF
Christian Vazquez, DH
J.D. Martinez, RF
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Rafael Devers, 3B
Hunter Renfroe, CF
Christian Arroyo, 2B
Bobby Dalbec, 1B
Kevin Plawecki, C

Martin Perez, LHP

TWINS (5-4)
Byron Buxton, CF
Kyle Garlick, LF
Nelson Cruz, DH
Mitch Garver, C
Miguel Sano, 1B
Willians Astudillo, 3B
Andrelton Simmons, SS
Luis Arraez, 2B
Jake Cave, RF

J.A. Happ, LHP