Chris Sale looks like he has turned back the clock and returned to the dominant pitcher he was prior to Tommy John surgery in 2020.
In his last outing, Sale pitched eight innings, striking out nine while giving up one run in the Red Sox’s 4-3 loss to St. Louis at the hands of a ninth-inning Cardinals rally and Kenley Jansen’s second blown save in as many nights.
Can Sale and the Red Sox continue to add to the Padres’ woes as they seek to hand San Diego its fourth straight loss? Sale has only faced the Padres once, back in 2014 while still with the Chicago White Sox. The 34-year-old allowed just one run in the complete-game battle.
Across the diamond, former Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts will face his old team for the second straight night. Bogaerts was held hitless at the plate by James Paxton on Friday, but has five hits in 12 at-bats against Sale in his career.
Justin Turner will get the night off following Boston’s 6-1 victory over San Diego in the series opener on Friday night. Raimel Tapia will get the start in left field for Boston. If the Red Sox win, they will have clinched their tenth series win of the season with a season-series record of 9-4-1 heading into the matchup.
Fans on the East Coast may want to grab a coffee or two, or even a double shot of espresso with first pitch from Petco Park scheduled for 10:10 p.m. ET. NESN will have all the action, including an hour of pregame coverage beginning at 9 p.m. ET.
Here are the complete lineups for Red Sox vs. Padres.
BOSTON RED SOX (25-20)
Alex Verdugo, RF
Masataka Yoshida, DH
Triston Casas, 1B
Rafael Devers, 3B
Jarren Duran, CF
Raimel Tapia, LF
Kiké Hernández, SS
Enmanuel Valdez, 2B
Connor Wong, C
Chris Sale, LHP (3-2 5.40 ERA)
SAN DIEGO PADRES (20-25)
Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
Ha-Seong Kim, 3B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Juan Soto, LF
Nelson Cruz, DH
Jake Cronenworth, 2B
Brandon Dixon, 1B
José Azocar, CF
Austin Nola, C
Joe Musgrove (1-1 6.63 ERA)
