Red Sox vs. Royals lineups: Hanley Ramirez, Brock Holt sit for game one

The Red Sox will go without Hanley Ramirez and Brock Holt for the first game of their day - night doubleheader against the Royals.

It's not the best lineup we've seen out of the Red Sox, but it was the sort we were always going to get in a doubleheader. Chris Young against a righty is particularly unfortunate, but with no lefties forthcoming from Kansas City, it's just something the Red Sox will have to live with.

Hopefully they will not also have to live with any trouble on the mound. Steven Wright had been excellent for the Red Sox up until his last start, but there's plenty of reason to believe that the five runs he allowed in just over four innings against Houston were as much the result of the weather as anything else. With no rain expected in Kansas City today, Wright should at the very least have a good opportunity to get back on track.

The Red Sox might actually need him to do so, too, because while Ian Kennedy is not exactly a name that inspires fear in the hearts of batters, his first year in KC is actually going reasonably well. He holds a 3.25 ERA through 44 innings of work, and thus far the homers that are a concern for any pitcher leaving Petco Park haven't cropped up. The peripherals aren't stunning, but they're certainly better than Yordano Ventura's, and he almost managed six innings of one-run ball last night before Travis Shaw showed up.

First pitch is at 2:15 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN, WEEI, and the MLB Network.