:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54168893/usa_today_9995017.0.jpg)
Reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello is not starting today, but I cannot imagine he will be a relatively disinterested observer of today’s 1:10 p.m. game between his current team, Red Sox and his former team, the Detroit Tigers. Justin Verlander was the runner-up for the Cy Young Award, and his betrothed, Kate Upton, served as a mouthpiece for the couple’s frustration with the voters, or so it seemed, for failing to properly recognize his achievement. Nanny-nanny boo-boo.
Verlander will face off against not Porcello but Chris Sale, his former division rival with a new and better team. That this game is in the afternoon makes me so happy I could cry, or at least continue to cry, after yesterday’s Sandy Leon-fueled comeback victory, onto which Craig Kimbrel barely held. The flu continues to keep Hanley Ramirez at bay today, and by now you know the Tigers front and back. Here are the full lineups:
Game 9: April 13 vs. Pirates
| Pirates | Red Sox | |
|---|---|---|
| Pirates | Red Sox | |
| 1 | Jordy Mercer, SS | Dustin Pedroia, 2B |
| 2 | Starling Marte, CF | Andrew Benintendi, CF |
| 3 | Andrew McCutchen, RF | Mookie Betts, RF |
| 4 | Gregory Polanco, LF | Hanley Ramirez, DH |
| 5 | David Freese, 3B | Mitch Moreland, 1B |
| 6 | Josh Harrison, DH | Xander Bogaerts, SS |
| 7 | Josh Bell, 1B | Marco Hernandez, 3B |
| 8 | Phil Gosselin, 2B | Christian Vazquez, C |
| 9 | Chris Stewart, C | Brock Holt, LF, \o/ |
| SP | Chad Kuhl | Eduardo Rodriguez |