The Red Sox will be without Daniel Nava as they go for the sweep against Jeremy Hellickson and the Tampa Bay Rays.
It's the first time we've seen Farrell deviate in full from the platoon he's had going at DH so far this year with Nava and Jonny Gomes, though on occasion we have seen both make their way into a game, one in left field. This time, though, Jackie Bradley Jr. remains in the lineup in left even as Gomes takes over for Nava as the DH. The reasoning might lie in Daniel Nava's 1-for-7 career performance against Hellickson. It's too small of a sample size to really say anything meaningfull, but managers are prone to buying into this sort of thing.
Boston Red Sox (7-4)
- Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
- Shane Victorino, RF
- Dustin Pedroia, 2B
- Mike Napoli, 1B
- Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
- Will Middlebrooks, 3B
- Stephen Drew, SS
- Jonny Gomes, DH
- Jackie Bradley Jr., LF
Starting Pitcher -- Ryan Dempster
Tampa Bay Rays (4-7)
- Desmond Jennings, CF
- Ben Zobrist, RF
- Evan Longoria, 3B
- Matt Joyce, LF
- Ryan Roberts, 2B
- James Loney, 1B
- Yunel Escobar, SS
- Jose Lobaton, C
- Kelly Johnson, DH
Starting Pitcher -- Jeremy Hellickson
Ryan Dempster's last game was a bit of a train wreck, but he was certainly not to blame for it so much as the defense (allowing two unearned runs) and the rain, which cut his night short at five innings. Yes, it was that game. The Red Sox have still yet to win a Dempster start, even with the offseason acquisition pitching reasonably well. Hopefully Dempster will give them another shot to buck that trend today.
Read more Red Sox:
- On Carlos Quentin, baseball brawls, and culpability
- Fifty-dollar tickets and fifty-cent narratives: The end of the Red Sox’ sellout streak
- Daniel Nava, Jonny Gomes making Boston's Jackie Bradley Jr. decision easy
- How Clay Buchholz steals the first strike
- On hope, the Red Sox new season, and what (little) we know