Red Sox vs. Rays Lineups: Can Andrew Cashner be the stopper?

At this time last week, the Red Sox were off to a rocking start in an extremely tough week of baseball, having taken the first two games in their three-game set against the Rays. They wouldn’t get the sweep, but it was the kind of start they were looking for in a tough 14-game stretch. Now, a week later, they are in the reverse position. Fresh off a disappointingly inactive trade deadline, the team is one loss away from getting swept at home against that same Rays team.

There’s no much to say right now besides that the team is just dragging. The starting pitching is back to disappointing in the last few days. The bullpen is back to having at least one misstep a night, and while the offense has been mostly fine from a results standpoint they are lacking in clutch situations. Now, they turn to Andrew Cashner to turn things around. After a really poor start to his Red Sox career in his first two outings, the righty came back and helped the team beat the Yankees last weekend. One of the keys was getting his changeup back to being a weapon, something he’ll need again on Thursday.

On the other side, the Red Sox are going up against lefty Brendan McKay. One of the top prospects in baseball, this will be Boston’s first time seeing the former first round pick. There are a couple notable absences from the lineup. Jackie Bradley Jr. gets the night off with Andrew Benintendi sliding into center and Sam Travis starting in lefty. Additionally, Christian Vázquez gets a breather. Alex Cora said this was due both to the foul Vázquez took off the body on Wednesday night and just general fatigue.

The full lineups are below.