Red Sox vs. Astros Lineups: An Opening Day lineup preview?

Amid all of the news regarding Chris Sale’s injury in the last 24 hours as well as the signing of Collin McHugh, the Red Sox are still chugging along playing baseball games. Today they do so at home in Fort Myers against the Astros. First pitch is set for 1:05, but unfortunately there’s no TV broadcast. You can listen in on 850 AM WEEI.

The lineup is the most interesting thing to pay attention to today, as this could be damn near what we see on Opening Day. Originally, Xander Bogaerts was in the DH slot for the second straight day with Marco Hernández at second base and a few other oddities, but Hernández was later scratched and Bogaerts was inserted at shortstop. As far as I can tell, it’s not clear whether this was due to Bogaerts insisting he felt good enough to get in the field or if there was something wrong with Hernández. I suppose we’ll see if the latter makes it in as a sub later. With Bogaerts at shortstop, we could be looking at the Opening Day lineup, or mostly. Both Michael Chavis and José Peraza are in the game, at first and second base, respectively, with Mitch Moreland shelved temporarily with a hamstring issue. Assuming Moreland’s injury isn’t serious, and there’s no indication it is, he’ll likely be at first base with one of the other two at second. Beyond that, though, we’re seeing all of their starters in this game.

Where the lineup deviates from the Opening Day set-up is on the mound, as Kyle Hart gets the start. The lefty has allowed three runs over three innings in two spring training appearances so far. After being added to the 40-man roster this past winter, he could certainly be a depth option in the rotation as the year goes on, but he’s likely a longshot at best to break camp with the team for Opening Day.

The full lineups are below: