Red Sox vs. Royals lineups: Time for sweet revenge?

The streaking Red Sox begin a four-game home series against a Royals team that won the last series between these teams behind the struggling Garrett Richards tonight at Fenway Park (7:10 p.m., NESN).

If there are two pitchers who are symbols of fallout from MLB’s draconian ban on pitch-grip substances, they are yesterday’s Yankees starter, the flailing ace Gerrit Cole and today’s Sox starter, Garrett Richards. At least for Richards this isn’t speculation: He’s the one saying so. He has allowed four earned runs in each of his last three starts, over 5 ¹⁄₃ innings the first time, four the second, and a paltry 1 ²⁄₃ in his last outing. What’s particularly unfortunate today is that the Sox can hardly afford to fall behind against Royals starter Danny Duffy, who comes into the game with a 1.81 ERA and who is allowing .40 homers per 9 innings. That’s good against a Sox team that I think hit 12 homers in 9 innings yesterday.

Alex Verdugo gets the day off for Boston, with Rafael Devers sliding up to the two-spot and the rest of the dudes falling in line below. Marwin Gonzalez is again in the lineup after his big game yesterday, and Bobby Dalbec is back at first base. The Royals are also fielding a team. You can see the names of their players here: