Red Sox vs. Diamondbacks lineups: Jackie Bradley Jr. sits out

Jackie Bradley Jr. is out of the lineup Saturday night against the Diamondbacks, with Andrew Benintendi sliding over to make his first start in center field in his place.

It's not surprising to see Bradley miss out today after John Farrell's comments from last night on his being limited by a nagging toe injury. While the Red Sox will certainly miss his arm out there, it's quite the luxury to be able to have a fielder like Benintendi as the backup in center field given that he only had to switch off the most demanding outfield position because Bradley was blocking him in the first place.

With Benintendi in Center, Holt will take left against the right-handed Archie Bradley. The hope is that his return to a backup role will see Holt's production rise again, but so far he's hitting an ugly .200/.304/.200 in August. Then again, it wouldn't be surprising if it took a while to see results as Holt's energy returns.

Oh, right, and Clay Buchholz is starting, so none of this likely matters much at all in terms of today's results. All we can do is sit and hope for a miracle. Yes, he's put together some halfway decent relief work again, but the last time he did that, his return to the rotation lasted three losses with 14 runs (10 earned) in under 15 innings, so...Yeah.

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