Despite only scoring one run against Josh Tomlin and the Indians Tuesday, Terry Francona seems to have been happy enough with the lineup to stick with it for a second game. The one difference: replacing Jarrod Saltalamacchia with Jason Varitek, giving the Captain his first start of the year.
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Carl Crawford, LF
3. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
4. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
5. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
6. David Ortiz, DH
7. J.D. Drew, RF
8. Jason Varitek, C
9. Marco Scutaro, SS
To be fair to the lineup in question, it was not so much the order that cost the Red Sox on Tuesday as it was the entire team’s inability to pick up hits. It doesn’t matter what order the players come to the plate in if there’s never anyone on base to begin with.
The Indians will also have a slightly changed lineup, with Travis Buck taking over for Austin Kearns:
1. Michael Brantley, CF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
3. Shin-Soo Choo, RF
4. Carlos Santana, C
5. Travis Hafner, DH
6. Orlando Cabrera, 2B
7. Travis Buck, LF
8. Matt LaPorta, 1B
9. Jack Hannahan, 3B
The Red Sox will rely on, of all people, Daisuke Matsuzaka to try and give them their first win of the year. But if the Sox perform as poorly against Mitch Talbot as they did against Josh Tomlin, it’s not going to matter much what Daisuke does.