Hunter Dobbins will take the mound for Boston
The Boston Red Sox took care of the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of Sunday’s doubleheader in walk-off fashion, courtesy of Wilyer Abreu.
Boston sealed its fourth straight victory, plus a chance to sweep St. Louis in the series finale. Massachusetts native Sean Newcomb delivered a tone-setting start before handing it off to rookie Hunter Dobbins, set to make his big league debut. The Red Sox promoted Dobbins from Triple-A Worcester to make him the roster’s 27th man, and immediately opened the door for the right-hander to make an impression.
“Looking forward to seeing what I can get up to with the Fenway crowd behind me,” Dobbins said Sunday, per MassLive’s Christopher Smith.
Dobbins was selected by the Red Sox in the eighth round of the 2021 MLB Draft out of Texas Tech. Boston added him to its 40-man roster last season to avoid losing Dobbins in the Rule 5 Draft, as he developed in Worcester and Double-A Portland. Dobbins recorded a 3.08 ERA across 25 starts in the team’s farm system before being named the 2024 Red Sox minor league Starting Pitcher of the Year.
The Red Sox got a glimpse of Dobbins during spring training, too. He logged two starts before Opening Day and posted a 4.50 ERA across four innings. Dobbins allowed two earned runs off three hits — two of which were home runs — and a walk, as the team elected to option Dobbins to Worcester. There, he’s allowed five earned runs across 3 2/3 innings with the WooSox and topped his fastball at 99.4 mph on Tuesday.
“The stuff is really good,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, per Smith. “Velo was great. He threw strikes. But I think the velo, that caught my attention (in spring training).”
First pitch from Fenway Park is set for 7:10 p.m. ET, and the game will be aired on ESPN.
Here are the lineups for Game 2 of Sunday’s Red Sox-Cardinals doubleheader:
BOSTON RED SOX (5-4)
Jarren Duran, LF
Rafael Devers, DH
Alex Bregman, 3B
Wilyer Abreu, RF
Trevor Story, SS
Kristian Campbell, 2B
Romy González, 1B
Carlos Narváez, C
Ceddanne Rafaela, CF
Hunter Dobbins, RHP (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (4-4)
Lars Nootbaar, LF
Willson Contreras, DH
Brendan Donovan, 2B
Nolan Arenado, 3B
Alec Burleson, 1B
Jordan Walker, RF
Pedro Pagés, C
Victor Scott II, CF
Masyn Winn, SS
Miles Mikolas, RHP (0-0, 3.38 ERA)
