Red Sox at Royals lineups: Back on the grind

The Red Sox look to avenge last night’s loss to the Royals when the teams square off this afternoon in Kansas City (4:10 p.m., NESN, MLBN out-of-market).

The Sox will try to win behind Martín Pérez, who, for one reason or another, has been absolutely blistered the last couple times out, most recently in a ghastly performance against the Blue Jays in which he didn’t escape the second inning. That his ERA is merely 4.58 now is a testament to how good he was before the last two appearances, the timing of which, following MLB’s awkward crackdown on substances to help pitchers grip the ball, made the whole thing interesting, to say the least. But ultimately Pérez is more of a 4.58 ERA pitcher than he is a 3.58 ERA one and this regression was coming either way, so we are right where we should have expected to be heading into today’s game.

Whether we like it or not, the leadoff spot is still a hilarious disaster, with Danny Santana and his .118 batting average up top. Also Jarren Duran went 3-3 last night in Worcester. Just saying and all. Anyhow, the rest is what you’d expect. Topple that monarchy!