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Steven Wright will try to replicate the success he had in Toronto in his first start as he takes the mound against the same Blue Jays team Sunday afternoon.
We were spared a repeat of the 3-0 shutout from last Sunday thanks to A) a rotation shuffle pushing David Price forward and B) one good inning against Marco Estrada. Now the Red Sox are hoping that they can get the same pitching performance from Wright while hopefully giving him some better backup against Aaron Sanchez. The 23-year-old remains unproven, and he had quite the sketchy-looking 2015 with a 5.9 K/9 to a 4.3 BB/9. But he was one of the better young pitching prospects in the game before he graduated, and is off to a strong start this season.
The lineup that's going to be tasked to disrupt that strong start, though, is not the best the Red Sox have trotted out this season. Marco Hernandez is in for Dustin Pedroia. That's not all that surprising--Pedroia isn't going to be playing 162 games this year, even if he stays healthy throughout--but Chris Young in left for Brock Holt is a bit bothersome. It would be one thing if there were still no lefty starters in sight. The Sox have faced RHP after RHP, making it hard to find Young an opportunity to play.
But J.A. Happ is taking the mound tomorrow. There's your lefty! Hopefully this isn't related to Holt's "slump," given that he's actually been having fine at bats, and has walked five times even during his hitless stretch. Perhaps the intention is just to sit him once every five-or-so games in an attempt to keep him fresh, and Farrell has designs on sitting Mookie for Monday's game, given that he's started every game so far this season. You'd think he'd switch who was sitting against which starter, but it's a small thing, and might just be a matter of having scheduled these days off well in advance.
First pitch is at 1:35 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.