Red Sox vs. Rays lineups: Days off galore as Sox go for sweep

The Red Sox are going for a sweep on Sunday as they continue through this favorable stretch of games in mid-September. To do so, they’ll have to survive without many of their key players. Getting the day off on Sunday are Dustin Pedroia, Eduardo Nuñez and Hanley Ramirez. That leaves a sort of strange lineup that includes Xander Bogaerts in the leadoff spot along with Brock Holt and Sam Travis forming two-thirds of the bottom-third of Boston’s lineup. While it doesn’t look like the prettiest lineup, it makes sense to continue getting Pedroia his rest and giving Nuñez a day off after he took a beating in Saturday’s win and had to leave early.

This lineup does put some pressure on Rick Porcello as well. The righty is still trying to find some consistency, and clearly he is running out of time. While baseball is weird and this Red Sox lineup could very well score twelve runs or something crazy, chances are Boston’s starter will have to keep the Rays off the scoreboard as much as possible if the Red Sox are going to win. Here are the full lineups.