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The Red Sox look to shake off a two-game funk behind the surprising Nick Pivetta when they face Framber Valdez and the Astros tonight in Houston (8:10 p.m., NESN, ESPN).
The rubber has met the road for this Sox team, and the tough part of the season has arrived at full speed. Two games does not a season make (just ask the Clippers), and a loss tonight would not be devastating. It is still May. It just won’t be great is all. And we strongly prefer great to “not devastating” in these parts.
Pivetta hasn’t been great this year but he’s been very good, as has Valdez, whose first name grade is a solid 80-grade moniker. Framber! You know Franchy approves. The lineup is the same as yesterday except Bobby Dalbec is at first and Christian Arroyo is at second, and they take the spots vacated by their predecessors in the batting order. That is all for today. Go Sox!
Game 55 at Astros
| Lineup spot | Red Sox | Astros |
|---|---|---|
| Lineup spot | Red Sox | Astros |
| 1 | Kiké Hernández, CF | José Altuve, DH |
| 2 | Alex Verdugo, LF | Carlos Correa, SS |
| 3 | J.D. Martinez, DH | Alex Bregman, 3B |
| 4 | Xander Bogaerts, SS | Yordan Álvarez, LF |
| 5 | Rafael Devers, 3B | Yuli Gurriel, 1B |
| 6 | Hunter Renfroe, RF | Kyle Tucker, RF |
| 7 | Bobby Dalbec, 1B | Robel García, 2B |
| 8 | Christian Vázquez, C | Myles Straw, CF |
| 9 | Christian Arroyo, 2B | Martín Maldonado, C |
| SP | Nick Pivetta, RHP | Framber Valdez, LHP |