Red Sox vs. Twins lineups: Travis Shaw moves down

The slumping Travis Shaw is all the way down to the eighth spot in the lineup Friday night, moving behind even Chris Young despite the righty on the mound.

There was little expectation Travis Shaw would continue to hit the way he did to start the season for the entire year, but the dropoff lately is worse than anyone could have seen coming. Nothing has been going his way in June, with the third baseman holding a .440 OPS on the month. It's hard to believe this is simply Travis Shaw going full pumpkin--he was too good for too long to be this bad--but the Red Sox certainly need him to turn it around sooner rather than later.

(Also, one wonders why Shaw's struggles are enough to move him around, while Hanley's are not...)

For all Shaw's struggles, Eduardo Rodriguez is probably the lefty of greater concern right now. If his first start was marked by bullets dodged, with long fly balls landing harmlessly in gloves, the second was the opposite. Four homers, five runs, and an unfortunate loss to the Blue Jays. The Sox have been counting on Rodriguez to return and give them at least a fourth starter. They need him to show that he's either at 100%, or at least close enough to pitch effectively against teams that aren't Toronto.

First pitch is at 2:10 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.