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Red Sox at Rangers lineup: Xander out, lefty-hunting platoon in

The Sox load up on righties against Texas southpaw Martin Perez.

MLB: Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays
Mookie’s the man, man.
Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

The Red Sox (47-35) look to continue their international rampage fresh off pounding the Blue Jays up north when they take on the middling Rangers (40-42) tonight in the Republic of Texas (8 p.m, NESN, ESPN). Arlington’s launching pad of a stadium could be bad news for reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello (5.06 ERA), who has regularly been pounded into near-submission under much more favorable circumstances thus year. He’ll be faced by lefty Martin Perez (4.70 ERA), who will pitch with a special protective glove on his right hand after suffering a thumb injury — the protection was, no joke, fashioned from the top of a plastic water bottle.

Xander Bogaerts is out of the starting lineup for the second straight game with a groin injury. Tzu-Wei Lin takes his place. The righty platoon bats are in (Sam Travis, Chris Young) the lefty platoon bats (Mitch Moreland, Andrew Benintendi) are out. Here are the full lineups:

Game 83, July 3, 2017 at Rangers

Lineup Spot Red Sox Rangers
Lineup Spot Red Sox Rangers
1 Mookie Betts, CF Shin-Soo Choo, RF
2 Dustin Pedroia, 2B Elvis Andrus, SS
3 Chris Young, LF Nomar Mazara, LF
4 Hanley Ramirez, DH Adrian Beltre, 3B
5 Jackie Bradley Jr., CF Rougned Odor, 2B
6 Sam Travis, 1B Mike Napoli, DH
7 Sandy Leon, C Carlos Gomez, CF
8 Deven Marrero, 3B Jonathan Lucroy, C
9 Tzu-Wei Lin, SS Joey Gallo, 1B
SP Rick Porcello, RHP Martin Perez, LHP