The Red Sox get a chance to bounce back in Thursday afternoon action ag Fenway Park.
Boston lost to the Twins, 10-4, on Wednesday when Minnesota had its way with Corey Kluber on the mound. The matchup featured some Red Sox bright spots in Kiké Hernández hitting the 100th home run of his career, and prospect Enmanuel Valdez impressed manager Alex Cora.
The Red Sox can win the series Thursday, and they can do it on the 111th anniversary of Fenway Park. Tanner Houck will be on the bump to help Boston get back on track. The 26-year-old last pitched in a win over the Los Angeles Angels on April 14 when struck out six batters in four innings and gave up two earned runs off four hits.
Yu Chang was reinstated off the paternity list, and Valdez was optioned back to Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday night. Chang will play shortstop and bat ninth, while Hernández shifts to second base. After taking a game off, Masataka Yoshida is back in the lineup. He will patrol left field and bat in the clean-up spot behind Justin Turner. Jarren Duran will shift over to center field, and Connor Wong rotates in at catcher.
Thursday’s first pitch is scheduled at 1:35 p.m. ET, and you can catch all the action on NESN with pregame starting at 12:30 p.m.
Here are the full lineups for Red Sox vs. Twins.
BOSTON RED SOX (9-10)
Alex Verdugo, RF
Rafael Devers, 3B
Justin Turner, DH
Masataka Yoshida, LF
Kiké Hernández, 2B
Triston Casas, 1B
Connor Wong, C
Jarren Duran, CF
Yu Chang, SS
Tanner Houck, RHP (2-0, 4.50 ERA)
MINNESOTA TWINS (11-7)
Max Kepler, RF
Carlos Correa, SS
Edouard Julien, 2B
Trevor Larnach, LF
Joey Gallo, 1B
José Miranda, DH
Nick Gordon, CF
Christian Vázquez, C
Willi Castro, 3B
Kenta Maeda, RHP (0-2, 4.09 ERA)
