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Rusney Castillo is back in the Red Sox lineup Thursday night, playing right field and batting ninth as the Sox take on the Rangers in Texas.
| BOSTON RED SOX | TEXAS RANGERS |
|---|---|
| Dustin Pedroia - 2B | Delino DeShields Jr. - CF |
| Mookie Betts - CF | Shin-Soo Choo - RF |
| Pablo Sandoval - 3B | Prince Fielder - DH |
| Hanley Ramirez - DH | Adrian Beltre - 3B |
| Mike Napoli - 1B | Josh Hamilton - LF |
| Brock Holt - LF | Mitch Moreland - 1B |
| Xander Bogaerts - SS | Elvis Andrus - SS |
| Blake Swihart - C | Adam Rosales - 2B |
| Rusney Castillo - RF | Robinson Chirinos - C |
| Eduardo Rodriguez - LHP | Nick Martinez - RHP |
It appears the shoulder injury which kept Castillo out of the finale against the Twins was minor indeed, needing just the one game off to heal up. Also noteworthy is the absence of David Ortiz. The Red Sox have tried moving him down in the order to get his bat going. Now they'll give the "day off" strategy another shot after nine straight games in the lineup.
With Ortiz out, the suddenly-hot combination of Mike Napoli and Brock Holt move up to fifth and sixth in the lineup. It's interesting to see that Castillo comes in all the way down at ninth, but Blake Swihart has been hitting the ball better these last few days, so maybe it's in acknowledgement of that.
Of course, the real big news today is the debut of Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound, but Marc has you covered there.
First pitch is at 8:05 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN, WEEI, and the MLB Network.