Will a rested Kiké Hernández help the Boston Red Sox right their ship against the Detroit Tigers?
Hernández returns to the Red Sox lineup after two days’ rest for Wednesday night’s matchup with the Tigers. He’ll play second base and bat leadoff, as Boston looks to end its five-game losing streak gain ground on the Tampa Bay Rays in the race for first place in the American League East division.
The return of Hernández moves center fielder Jarren Duran from the leadoff spot to No. 2 in Boston’s batting order and Marwin Gonzalez out of the starting lineup entirely. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts follows Duran as the third batter.
The rest of the Red Sox lineup contains several other batting-order changes. Third baseman Rafael Devers returns to the cleanup spot after batting second in the previous three games. Designated hitter J.D. Martinez bats fifth for the first time in nine games.
Joining Duran in the outfield are left fielder Alex Verdugo and right fielder Hunter Renfroe, both of whom move down one spot in the order to sixth and seventh, respectively.
The bottom of Boston’s order features a swap, as first baseman Franchy Cordero moves up to eighth, while catcher Christian Vázquez moves down to ninth.
Eduardo Rodriguez is the Red Sox starting pitcher. The lefty looks to rebound from his rough July 29 outing against the Toronto Blue Jays, during which he allowed a season-high six runs in three innings of work.
Detroit will counter with right-hander Casey Mize as its starter.
NESN will air full coverage of Red Sox-Tigers. Pregame coverage starts at 6 p.m. ET. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m, and postgame coverage immediately will follow the final out. If you’re not near a television, you still can live stream full coverage of the game online at Watch NESN Live.
Here are the starting lineups for Wednesday’s Red Sox versus Tigers game.
RED SOX (63-45)
Kiké Hernández, 2B
Jarren Duran, CF
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Rafael Devers, 3B
J.D. Martinez, DH
Alex Verdugo, LF
Hunter Renfroe, RF
Franchy Cordero, 1B
Christian Vázquez, C
Eduardo Rodriguez, LHP (7-6, 5.60 ERA)
TIGERS (52-57)
Akil Baddoo, LF
Jonathan Schoop, 2B
Robbie Grossman, RF
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Eric Haase, DH
Jeimer Candelario, 3B
Grayson Greiner, C
Zack Short, SS
Derek Hill, CF
Casey Mize, RHP (6-5, 3.41 ERA)
