Alex Cora on Thursday is keeping the Houston connection going for his Boston Red Sox battery.
The Red Sox are eyeing their seventh straight win Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park as they go for a sweep of the Kansas City Royals in the two sides' four-game set.
Nathan Eovaldi will be on the mound for the Boston, and with Kevin Plawecki still out, Cora is having fellow Houstonian Connor Wong catch the hard-throwing right-hander. This will be the second big league start for Wong, who had a hit and caught Eovaldi in Saturday's win over the New York Yankees.
Wong takes over for Christian Vázquez and will hit ninth. The only other personnel change for the Red Sox is putting Danny Santana at first base in place of Michael Chavis against Royals southpaw Kris Bubic.
Xander Bogaerts will stay in the lineup but will serve as the designated hitter, meaning J.D. Martinez will play left field. Alex Verdugo will be in center, which bumps Kiké Hernández up to second base while Marwin Gonzalez slides over to shortstop.
Here are the lineups for Thursday's Royals-Red Sox game.
Red Sox (50-31)
Kiké Hernández, 2B
Alex Verdugo, CF
J.D. Martinez, LF
Xander Bogaerts, DH
Rafael Devers, 3B
Hunter Renfroe, RF
Marwin Gonzalez, SS
Danny Santana, 1B
Connor Wong, C
Nathan Eovaldi, RHP (8-4, 3.67 ERA)
Royals (33-45)
Whit Merrifield, 2b
Jorge Soler, RF
Carlos Santana, 1B
Salvador Perez, DH
Ryan O'Hearn, LF
Hunter Dozier, 3B
Jarrod Dyson, CF
Sebastian Rivero, C
Nicky Lopez, SS
Kris Bubic, LHP (2-3, 4.47 ERA)
