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The second-place Red Sox head down to Houston to take on the second-place Astros in the battle of the last two American League World Series winners this afternoon (4:10 p.m., NESN, ESPN out-of-market).
Eduardo Rodriguez gets the call one day after his scratched start against the Marlins back in Boston. Yesterday I wrote that they may play the game by hook or by crook, not counting on, among other factors, the face Miami can just make it up a week from today and that delayed the Sox yet again would bite into the juice for this game, which is palpable. The Sox are unquestionably good guys again today! Enjoy this.
José Urquidy gets the start for Houston, returning from an injury, and he’ll face the version of the current Sox lineup that does not feature Bobby Dalbec, who gets the day off to start in favor of Danny Santana. Here are the full lineups:
Game 53 at Astros
| Lineup spot | Red Sox | Astros |
|---|---|---|
| Lineup spot | Red Sox | Astros |
| 1 | Kiké Hernández, CF | José Altuve, 2B |
| 2 | Alex Verdugo, LF | Chas McCormick, LF |
| 3 | J.D. Martinez, DH | Alex Bregman, 3B |
| 4 | Xander Bogaerts, SS | Carlos Correa, SS |
| 5 | Rafael Devers, 3B | Kyle Tucker, RF |
| 6 | Danny Santana, 1B | Aledmys Díaz, 1B |
| 7 | Christian Vázquez, C | Taylor Jones, DH |
| 8 | Marwin Gonzalez, 2B | Myles Straw, CF |
| 9 | Hunter Renfroe, RF | Martín Maldonado, C |
| SP | Eduardo Rodriguez, LHP | José Urquidy, RHP |