Dustin Pedroia will bat third Thursday night, making his return to the Red Sox lineup as they aim to close out the series win over the Chicago White Sox.
It will be the first appearance for Dustin Pedroia since re-injuring his thumb early in the month, forcing him to the disabled list. While Pedroia's first thumb injury (and his decision to play through it) cost him a long period of ineffectiveness, the second baseman had been coming out of his slump over his last 10 games and, with the 15 days off, hopefully he'll only be playing at 100% this time 'round.
The interesting twist to this lineup, lacking Ortiz and up against a lefty, is that the Red Sox will turn to Pedro Ciriaco as their designated hitter. It's bizarre that circumstances have lead to a Triple-A middle infielder playing the position, but the fact is that, up against a lefty, it was probably the best choice for the Sox given the other options are players like Saltalamacchia, Sweeney, and Nava, who are all lefties or switch hitters with limited ability to hit left-handed pitching.
Boston Red Sox (47-45)
- Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
- Carl Crawford, LF
- Dustin Pedroia, 2B
- Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
- Cody Ross, RF
- Will Middlebrooks, 3B
- Mike Aviles, SS
- Kelly Shoppach, C
- Pedro Ciriaco, DH
Chicago White Sox (50-41)
- Alejandro De Aza, CF
- Alexei Ramirez, SS
- Adam Dunn, DH
- Paul Konerko, 1B
- Alex Rios, RF
- A.J. Pierzynski, C
- Dayan Viciedo, LF
- Gordon Beckham, 2B
- Eduardo Escobar, 3B
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