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Red Sox vs. Braves: David Ortiz sits, Xander Bogaerts bats third

With the Sox in the National League, it's time for Joe Kelly to swing a bat and David Ortiz to ride the pine.

By Ben Buchanan
Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

The losing streak is over for the Red Sox. Now they'll try to make it two straight wins Wednesday night against the Braves.

BOSTON RED SOX ATLANTA BRAVES
Dustin Pedroia - 2B Jace Peterson - 2B
Brock Holt - RF Cameron Maybin - CF
Xander Bogaerts - SS Freddie Freeman - 1B
Hanley Ramirez - LF Nick Markakis - RF
Pablo Sandoval - 3B Juan Uribe - 3B
Mike Napoli - 1B Kelly Johnson - LF
Mookie Betts - CF A.J. Pierzynski - C
Blake Swihart - C Pedro Ciriaco - SS
Joe Kelly - RHP Alex Wood - LHP

With the Red Sox in a National League park, David Ortiz is out of the lineup. He'll be in tomorrow, playing first base, but for now, against the left-handed Alex Wood, it certainly makes sense to have Napoli on the field and in the lineup.

With Ortiz out, the Red Sox will have Xander Bogaerts all the way in the #3 spot. He's moved from fifth to fourth to third in the past few games on the strength of a .345/.367/.466 batting line in June. Brock Holt, fresh off hitting for the cycle on Tuesday, will move back to the two-spot he's called home recently with Dustin Pedroia taking back over in the leadoff spot. The second baseman's knee soreness--the reason for his absence on Tuesday--appears to have been no big deal.

First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.

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