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Game 39 vs. Mariners
| Lineup spot | Mariners | Red Sox |
|---|---|---|
| Lineup spot | Mariners | Red Sox |
| 1 | Mitch Haniger, RF | Andrew Benintendi, LF |
| 2 | Domingo Santana, LF | Mookie Betts, RF |
| 3 | Edwin Encarnación, DH | J.D. Martinez, DH |
| 4 | Ryon Healy, 3B | Mitch Moreland, 1B |
| 5 | Jay Bruce, 1B | Xander Bogaerts, SS |
| 6 | Tim Beckham, 2B | Rafael Devers, 3B |
| 7 | J.P. Crawford, SS | Michael Chavis, 2B |
| 8 | Tom Murphy, C | Jackie Bradley Jr., CF |
| 9 | Braden Bishop, CF | Christian Vázquez,C |
| SP | Erik Swanson, RHP | Eduardo Rodriguez, LHP |
The Red Sox (19-19) look to push above the .500 mark for the first time all season with a win against a Mariners (20-20) team headed in the opposite direction and a long way from home for tonight’s 7:10 p.m. game.
The M’s have won only two games in the last two weeks or so, though they won both of those by scoring 10 runs. Briefly on top of the world, they’re headed back down toward the cellar while they bring their own youngsters into the majors; Shed Long, one of the two main prospects arriving in the Robinson Cano network of deals, has been promoted for tonight’s game. (The other one, Jarred Kelenic, is an absolute monster but still pretty young). He’ll watch from the bench as righty Erik Swanson get the start; I heretofore to writing this blog post had not heard of Swanson. and he has the numbers (4.94 ERA) and pedigree (25-year-old 8th-round draft pick) to be an otherwise anonymous innings-eater.
But as for players you care about, Michael Chavis is back and the “A” team is out there tonight, provided you still count Jackie Bradley Jr. among its members. After that catch, how couldn’t you? Eduardo Rodriguez has gotta be happy at least. He’s coming off his best performance in a while, a six-inning, one-run job against the White Sox to lower his ERA to a bad but workable 5.40. A good thing would be if he lowered it tonight.