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Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora announced sweeping lineup changes for Saturday’s game facing Tarik Skubal.
The Boston Red Sox manager made a sweeping decision before Saturday’s game, announcing four lineup changes as Boston tries to extend its short winning streak to three games. The Red Sox have a tall order, facing Tarik Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner.
The Red Sox narrowly edged the Detroit Tigers in the opener of their four-game series on Friday, winning 1-0 in 10 innings on a walk-off single by Masataka Yoshida. But in one Cora decision, the lefty-swinging Yoshida will not be in the lineup on Saturday to face the dominant left-hander Skubal.
Cora also will sit left-handed hitters Jarren Duran and Marcelo Mayer against Skubal. In an unusual move, Cora also decided to start catcher Connor Wong, a rare day-game-after-night-game start for a catcher. Carlos Narvaez, though a right-handed batter, will not be in the starting lineup for the Red Sox. The lineup changes were first reported by Red Sox beat writer Chris Cotillo of MassLive.
Reasons For Sweeping Lineup Changes
Cora also decided to place shortstop Trevor Story in the designated hitter spot, electing to go with offseason trade acquisition Andruw Monasterio at short and, in perhaps the most surprising move if all, batting second against Skubal.
Here is the complete starting lineup for the Red Sox, for the 4:10 p.m. ET game at Fenway Park Saturday against the Tigers.
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Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist who covers MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, boxing, golf, and Olympic sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Newspaper and Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering the Olympics, pro baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
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