Red Sox at Pirates lineup: Knuckle up

A day after Sandy Leon hit two homers in a nine-run fifth inning, he sees the bench in tonight’s game versus the Pirates (6:05 p.m., NESN+) while Christian Vazquez gets the start behind the plate. This is how it’s gonna be, folks. While I generally — ahem — agree with Dan Shaughnessy that Vazquez should be the nominal starter, I don’t think anyone’s going to log the lion’s share of playing time a la your Busters Posey or Yadiers Molina, so get used to the back-and-forth here.

What not to get used to: Heiker Meneses, a career minor leaguer, starting in Dustin Pedroia’s spot. Enjoy this moment, Meneses lovers. Savor it. Drink it up as you take in the full lineup:

1. Brock Holt, 3B, \o/
2. Andrew Benintendi, LF
3. Mookie Betts, RF
4. Chris Young, DH
5. Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
6. Josh Rutledge, 1B
7. Marco Hernandez, SS
8. Christian Vazquez, C
9. Heiker Meneses, 2B

Starting Pitcher: Steven Wright

Drew Hutchison, who the Sox roughed up last week, starts for Pittsburgh.