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The Red Sox look to shake the bats awake when they face Kohei Arihara and the Texas Rangers tonight (8:05 p.m., NESN) behind Nathan Eovaldi.
Eovaldi is coming off his worst start of the season, allowing four runs over five innings to the White Sox, his second straight outing with at least four earned runs. Per Field Level Media (sure), Eovaldi effectively blamed his mechanics, specifically at the end of the delivery:
“I just felt like I had a hard time finishing my pitches,” Eovaldi said. “If I’m not finishing my pitches, they tend to stay middle and they’re not as sharp as they usually are. I think that’s what got me in trouble.”
If the Red Sox bats keep quiet, they’ll need Eovaldi to stay sharp, but Arihara is also coming off an outing so bad against the White Sox that it seems like he may have been tipping his pitches. We are very pro-tipping over here and would like to see it continue, though one suspects some adjustments will be made.
Speaking of adjustments, the Rangers have adjusted their lineup to account for yesterday’s (extremely rude) absence of Brock Holt with the presence of Brock Holt, who will play third and bat eighth. This is all we wanted, outside of wins, from this series, so this is good.
The Sox give Kiké Hernández the day off, with Christian Arroyo, who is pointedly not Alex Verdugo, moving into the leadoff spot. Franchy Cordero gets a chance to atone anew for whatever this year has been, as does Hunter Renfroe, but they’re at the bottom of the order, so we’re good. Here are the full lineups:
Game 27 at Rangers
Lineup spot | Red Sox | Rangers |
---|---|---|
Lineup spot | Red Sox | Rangers |
1 | Christian Arroyo, 2B | Willie Calhoun, LF |
2 | Alex Verdugo, CF | Nick Solak, 2B |
3 | J.D. Martinez, DH | Joey Gallo, RF |
4 | Xander Bogaerts, SS | Nate Lowe, 1B |
5 | Rafael Devers, 3B | Adolis García, CF |
6 | Christian Vázquez, C | David Dahl, DH |
7 | Bobby Dalbec, 1B | Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS |
8 | Hunter Renfroe, RF | Brock Holt, 3B |
9 | Franchy Cordero, LF | Jonah Heim, C |
SP | Nathan Eovaldi, RHP | Kohei Arihara, RHP |
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