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The Red Sox (17-2) look to win their ninth straight game when they face the Oakland A’s (9-11) tonight (9:05 p.m., NESN) behind Chris Sale.
About tonight’s game: You can’t predict baseball, but you’d be forgiven if you had doubts about Oakland’s chances tonight. Sale (1-0, 1.23 ERA) is Chris Sale, and while Sean Manaea (2-2, 1.63 ERA) is good, he’s not Chris Sale. The Red Sox have won nine games in a row and the A’s aren’t too good, is what I’m saying.
J.D. Martinez is back for the Sox and hot-hitting Mitch Moreland is out of the lineup, with Sandy Leon and Tzu-Wei Lin swapping into their respective positions, but otherwise everything is normal.
About last night’s game: The Red Sox trailed 3-0 in this one before the second inning. That’s bad! Then Jackie Bradley Jr. tied it with a three-run bomb, Mitch Moreland hit a granny and the Sox bageled the A’s after the first to take the win, 7-3. That’s good! Read the recap here.
Forecast: Low 60s and nice.
A good tweet from yesterday:
Mitch Moreland hits a grand slam and just like that it's 7-3 Boston. pic.twitter.com/i02yF9J5R0
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) April 21, 2018
LINEUPS
Game 20 at A’s
| Lineup Spot | Red Sox | A's |
|---|---|---|
| Lineup Spot | Red Sox | A's |
| 1 | Mookie Betts, RF | Marcus Semien, SS |
| 2 | Andrew Benintendi, LF | Stephen Piscotty, RF |
| 3 | Hanley Ramirez, 1B | Jed Lowrie, 2B |
| 4 | J.D. Martinez, DH | Khris Davis, DH |
| 5 | Eduardo Nunez, 2B | Matt Chapman, 3B |
| 6 | Rafael Devers, 3B | Matt Olson, 1B |
| 7 | Sandy Leon, C | Mark Canha, CF |
| 8 | Jackie Bradley Jr., CF | Chad Pinder, RF |
| 9 | Tzu-Wei Lin, SS | Jonathan Lucroy, C |
| SP | Chris Sale, LHP | Sean Manaea, LHP |