The Boston Red Sox are reaching into their old back of tricks in order to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Houston Astros.
Kiké Hernández and Alex Verdugo return to the top of the Red Sox batting order Thursday at Fenway Park for their series finale against the Houston Astros. Verdugo missed the first two games of the set due to back tightness. Hernández played both recent games against the Astros but batted at or near the bottom of the order.
Hernández on Thursday starts in center field and leads off for the first time since June 2. Verdugo bats second and plays left field, while Hunter Renfroe bats sixth and plays right field. J.D. Martinez bats third and returns to his designated-hitter spot after playing left field Tuesday.
Boston's infield includes third baseman Rafael Devers, who drops from second in the batting order back to his customary fifth spot. Xander Bogaerts returns to shortstop and bats fourth after serving as the designated hitter Tuesday. Second baseman Christian Arroyo bats eighth, and first baseman Bobby Dalbec bats ninth.
Christian Vázquez bats seventh and catches for Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez.
Here are the lineups for Thursday's Red Sox-Astros game. NESN will air the game in full, starting at 6 p.m. ET with pregame coverage. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m., and postgame coverage immediately will follow the final out.
RED SOX (37-25)
Kiké Hernández, CF
Alex Verdugo, LF
J.D. Martinez, DH
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Rafael Devers, 3B
Hunter Renfroe, RF
Christian Vázquez, C
Christian Arroyo, 2B
Bobby Dalbec, 1B
Eduardo Rodriguez, LHP (5-4, 5.59 ERA)
ASTROS (35-26)
Jose Altuve, 2B
Carlos Correa, SS
Alex Bregman, 3B
Yordan Alvarez, DH
Yuli Gurriel, 1B
Kyle Tucker, RF
Taylor Jones, LF
Martin Maldonado, C
Myles Straw, CF
Zack Greinke, RHP (6-2, 3.38 ERA)
