Red Sox Vs. Yankees Lineups: Connor Wong, Rob Refsnyder Start

The MLB All-Star break isn’t too far away, but the Red Sox on Friday have a chance to really make an impact on the American League playoff race.

Boston celebrated the Fourth of July by completing its sweep over the Miami Marlins with an extra-innings win at loanDepot park on Thursday. The result got the Red Sox up to the third wild-card spot in the AL and created an interesting weekend series against a New York Yankees side heading in the wrong direction.

With left-hander Nestor Cortes on the mound for the Bronx Bombers, Rob Refsnyder will return to the lineup at right field and bat second behind Jarren Duran. Connor Wong will rotate in at catcher and bat ahead of Romy González, who starts at first base for Dominic Smith. Enmanuel Valdez makes his return to the lineup and will start at second base.

Tanner Houck will look for better results Friday and get back on his Cy Young path.

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First pitch for Red Sox-Yankees is scheduled at 7:05 p.m. ET, and you can catch full coverage on NESN starting with pregame at 6 p.m.

Here are the starting lineups for both sides.

BOSTON RED SOX (47-39)
Jarren Duran, CF
Rob Refsnyder, RF
Tyler O’Neill, LF
Rafael Devers, 3B
Connor Wong, C
Romy González, 1B
Masataka Yoshida, DH
Enmanuel Valdez, 2B
Ceddanne Rafaela, SS

Tanner Houck, RHP (7-6, 2.67 ERA)

NEW YORK YANKEES (54-35)
Ben Rice, 1B
Juan Soto, RF
Aaron Judge, DH
Alex Verdugo, LF
Gleyber Torres, 2B
Austin Wells, C
Anthony Volpe, SS
Trent Grisham, CF
DJ LeMahieu, 3B

Nestor Cortes, LHP (4-7, 3.51 ERA)