The Red Sox, a day after being shut down by John Means, will look to notch their first runs of the season—and maybe even their first win—when they take on the Orioles at 1:10 p.m. (NESN, MLBN out-of-market) behind Tanner Houck.
Houck made his Major League Baseball debut last year, but his family will only get to see him today, writes Christopher Smith of MassLive.com, for obvious reasons, and Houck is justifiably elated:
“Getting to spend this moment with them has been special. Getting to see where I’ve gotten and to have them with me through this journey, I can’t even put into words. I’m so incredibly thankful for them to have done everything in their power to get me to this point.”
Houck has a tough act to follow after Nathan Eovaldi’s strong start to the year, and looks to finish up where he left off during spring training, when he struck out six over 4.1 innings versus the Braves.
The top five of the batting order is unchanged, though there’s been some shifting in the field, as Kiké Hernández will play center field, Alex Verdugo will play right field, and Marwin Gonzalez will play second base. Franchy Cordero, a personal favorite, will make his Red Sox debut and play left field, batting eighth. Kevin Plawecki will replace Christian Vázquez behind the plate and bat ninth.
The Orioles will start Matt Harvey, who continues his tour of baseball’s barrel-scraping franchises after putting up an 11.57 ERA in 11.2 innings last year following stints with the Angels, Reds and, of course, Mets. If the Sox can’t score today, it would be a bad sign. Happy Harvey Day? Let’s hope so.
Game 2 vs. Orioles
Lineup spot | Orioles | Red Sox |
---|---|---|
Lineup spot | Orioles | Red Sox |
1 | Cedric Mullins, CF | Kiké Hernández, CF |
2 | Trey Mancini, 1B | Alex Verdugo, RF |
3 | Anthony Santander, RF | J.D. Martinez, DH |
4 | Ryan Mountcastle, DH | Xander Bogaerts, SS |
5 | Rio Ruiz, 2B | Rafael Devers, 3B |
6 | Austin Hays, LF | Marwin Gonzalez, 2B |
7 | Mikael Franco, 3B | Bobby Dalbec, 1B |
8 | Freddy Galvis, SS | Franchy Cordero, LF |
9 | Pedro Severino, C | Kevin Plawecki, C |
SP | Matt Harvey, RHP | Tanner Houck, RF |