The Boston Red Sox welcome the Milwaukee Brewers to Fenway Park on Friday as the two teams begin a critical three-game series.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora shuffled the top half of his batting order with Boston getting set to take on tough right-hander pitcher Brandon Woodruff. Christian Vázquez, who is batting .308 over the last week with two home runs, will bat second for the Red Sox with left fielder Alex Verdugo behind him and shortstop Xander Bogaerts hitting out of the cleanup spot.
That bumps J.D. Martinez down to the No. 5 spot in the order as the designated hitter has struggled since returning from back spams — Martinez is 0-for-10 in his last three games.
Those weren’t the only moves Cora made with Boston trying to stay in the American League Wild Card playoff picture. While right-handed pitching prospect Brayan Bello was slated to get the start on the mound, he’ll now move to the bullpen with Austin Davis serving as the opener. This is will be Davis’ third start of the season, and he hasn’t pitched longer than two innings in both of those outings.
It will be a return to Fenway for right fielder and cleanup hitter Hunter Renfroe, who played last season for the Red Sox.
You can watch the Red Sox take on the Brewers on Friday with NESN 360. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET after an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.
The full lineups for Red Sox vs. Brewers are below.
BOSTON RED SOX (50-50)
Jarren Duran, CF
Christian Vázquez, C
Alex Verdugo, LF
Xander Bogaerts, SS
J.D. Martinez, DH
Franchy Cordero, 1B
Bobby Dalbec, 3B
Jackie Bradley Jr., RF
Yolmer Sánchez, 2B
Austin Davis, LHP (1-1, 4.50 ERA)
MILWAUKEE BREWERS (55-44)
Christian Yelich, LF
Willy Adames, SS
Andrew McCutchen, DH
Hunter Renfroe, RF
Rowdy Tellez, 1B
Luis Urias, 3B
Victor Caratini, C
Kolten Wong, 2B
Tyrone Taylor, CF
Brandon Woodruff, RHP (8-3, 3.73 ERA)
