Red Sox at Rays lineups: Rich Hill’s return

The Red Sox look to continue their winning ways this afternoon behind Rich Hill against the Rays down in Florida. First pitch is at 1:05 PM ET. There’s unfortunately no local TV broadcast for this one, but all spring games are free on MLB TV right now so you can watch there.

Hill, the Massachusetts boy, is on his third stint with the Sox. He’s 42 years old and still going strong, if not at his absolute peak level, but the lollipop curve is still a sight to behold. Hopefully he can use it well today against his most recent team, the Rays, as the Sox go for their sixth win in a row to start March. He’s set to go two innings after the other starters were given three, while Garrett Whitlock will piggy back and go two innings as well.

As for the lineup, it’s something of a role reversal as the Sox take on the young righty Luis Patiño, with the Sox tossing out the B team against the Rays’s top-heavy lineup. The heavy hitters get the day off for Boston, with Jarren Duran batting second, Bobby Dalbec batting and playing third, and Red Sox legend Roberto Ramos DHing and batting eighth.

The Rays, meanwhile, break out both of their remaining Lowes, with Josh batting first and Brandon batting third, sandwiching the phenom Wander Franco, who plays shortstop and bats second and is going to be nightmare fuel for us for a decade and, if doubled in age, would still be younger than Hill. Fun stuff. Fun March. Let’s win again, shall we?