The Boston Red Sox will try to sweep their three-game set against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Sunday afternoon.
But in order to do so, the Red Sox likely will have to have some success against a familiar face in San Diego starting pitcher Michael Wacha. Wacha, of course, spent the 2022 campaign in Boston.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora has opted to keep nearly the same lineup from Saturday night’s 4-2 victory. Cora’s lone change includes Reese McGuire replacing Connor Wong behind the plate where he’ll catch right-hander Corey Kluber. Kluber is coming off consecutive performances in which he allowed seven hits in five innings of work.
It won’t get any easier against a star-studded Padres lineup, which will feature Xander Bogaerts batting third and playing shortstop.
Fortunately for the Red Sox fans that have had to put up with late nights on the East Coast, Sunday’s contest will be much easier to watch. First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch it live on NESN after an hour of pregame coverage.
Here are the lineups for both teams.
BOSTON RED SOX (26-20)
Alex Verdugo, RF
Masataka Yoshida, DH
Triston Casas, 1B
Rafael Devers, 3B
Jarren Duran, CF
Raimel Tapia, LF
Kiké Hernández, SS
Enmanuel Valdez, 2B
Reese McGuire, C
Corey Kluber, RHP (2-5, 6.41 ERA)
SAN DIEGO PADRES (20-26)
Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
Jake Cronenworth, 1B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Juan Soto, LF
Matt Carpenter, DH
Ha-Seong Kim, 3B
Rougned Odor, 2B
Trent Grisham, CF
Brett Sullivan, C
Michael Wacha, RHP (4-1, 4.06 ERA)
