Red Sox at Orioles Lineups: Mookie gets the day off in Baltimore

The Red Sox have won two in a row, and even if they haven’t been the prettiest wins imaginable there is at least some momentum on their side. Now, they have a chance to capitalize more on that momentum against perhaps (probably?) the worst team in all of baseball. One of the keys to last season’s historic regular season record was that they beat up on the bad teams, with the Orioles being the number one example of that. They haven’t been as dominant as they’d like against Baltimore so far in 2019, but that can change with a big series this weekend. That quest starts today with Eduardo Rodriguez taking the mound against his former organization for the first game.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox go up against former Rangers prospect Luis Ortiz. The right hander has not panned out as some had hoped early in his professional career — he was consensus top-100 prospect for two straight years in 2016 and 2017 — but he is also still only 23 years old. Ortiz will be making his first major-league start of the season this year after pitching to an ugly 7.01 ERA in Triple-A. He made one major-league start last year and recorded only five outs while allowing three runs, though only one was earned. Against the young righty, the Red Sox give Mookie Betts a breather with J.D. Martinez sliding into right field and Eduardo Núñez handling DH duties. Michael Chavis will take the leadoff spot. The full lineups are below.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM ET.