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The Red Sox (23-21) ride back to back victories into tonight’s potentially historic Chris Sale (2.19 ERA start versus the Rangers (24-22) as the lanky lefty will look to strike out 10 batters in a game for the ninth consecutive time (7:10 p,.m. NESN).
The only other pitcher to strike out 10 batters in 8 consecutive games in the modern era is Pedro Martinez, who did it in the final 8 games of the 1999 season for the Sox. Martinez won the Cy Young Award that year and came within a hair’s breadth of the MVP when he was inexplicably left off two ballots entirely. If Sale can do him one better tonight, maybe he can do him one better in the hardware department, too.
In other big news, Sam Travis makes his Major League debut today and starts at first base, batting seventh. Lefty Martin Perez (3.17 ERA) starts for Texas, which means Hanley Ramirez moves up to fourth, Chris Young slides into the fifth spot and Andrew Benintendi bats sixth and plays center field in place of Jackie Bradley Jr.
Happy anniversary to me. Here are the full lineups:
Game 45, May 24, 2017 vs. Rangers
| Lineup Spot | Rangers | Red Sox |
|---|---|---|
| Lineup Spot | Rangers | Red Sox |
| 1 | Delino DeShields, LF | Mookie Betts, RF |
| 2 | Shin-Shoo Choo, CF | Dustin Pedroia, 2B |
| 3 | Elvis Andrus, SS | Xander Bogaerts, SS |
| 4 | Jonathan Lucroy, C | Hanley Ramirez, DH |
| 5 | Rougned Odor, 2B | Chris Young, LF |
| 6 | Mike Napoli, 1B | Andrew Benintendi, CF |
| 7 | Ryan Rua, RF | Sam Travis, 1B |
| 8 | Joey Gallo, 3B | Sandy Leon, C |
| 9 | Robinson Chirinos, 2B | Deven Marrero, 3B |
| SP | Martin Perez, LHP | Chris Sale, LHP |