The Red Sox are back at Fenway Park on Tuesday, and Chad Tracy’s first lineup of the final homestand comes with a few noticeable twists as October gets closer.
Boston has already locked up a playoff berth, but there’s still plenty left to sort out. The club opens a six-game homestand with a four-game edge for the second American League wild-card spot, and the first test comes against a Cleveland team that has won four in a row and sits one game up in the AL Central.
Roman Anthony is at the top of the order and starting in left field for the 6:45 p.m. ET opener.
Nick Sogard hits second and plays first base, while Jahmai Jones gets the designated hitter role and bats third. Trevor Story, Jarren Duran and Willson Contreras are not in Tuesday’s starting nine, and the Red Sox did not offer a reason for those absences in the lineup announcement.
The rest of the lineup gives Boston a different look behind Jones. Wilyer Abreu bats fourth in right field, followed by Adley Rutschman at catcher. Caleb Durbin is in at third, Andruw Monasterio handles second, Isiah Kiner-Falefa is at shortstop and Nate Eaton starts in center.
That setup puts Jones in a key run-producing spot, with Anthony and Sogard ahead of him and Abreu and Rutschman waiting behind him. The matchup also features two left-handers, with Payton Tolle starting for Boston and Cleveland’s Parker Messick on the mound.
Tolle enters at 9-6 with a 3.02 ERA. Messick is 12-9 with a 2.57 ERA. The game airs on NESN.
Tuesday also begins Boston’s final six regular-season games, all of them at home. The Red Sox are already in the postseason, and Tracy now has a brief stretch to keep the club sharp while also sorting through the combinations that could matter in next week’s wild-card series.
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