By
- Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
CHICAGO — Red Sox manager Alex Cora made a notable change to his starting lineup Sunday, installing a hot-hitting outfielder as his new cleanup hitter and dropping the scuffling Triston Casas in the order.
Right fielder Wilyer Abreu will hit fourth and Casas will hit sixth against Mass. native Shane Smith and the White Sox as the Red Sox try to avoid being swept by the 4-10 White Sox at Rate Field.
Abreu is hitting .362 with three homers, 12 RBIs and a 1.121 OPS through 16 games. Casas has struggled to a .176 average (9-for-51) with a .530 OPS in 14 appearances. Before Sunday, Casas had hit fourth behind Alex Bregman in all 12 of his starts. Abreu had switched back and forth between the No. 6 and No. 7 spots.
“Willy is swinging the bat well,” Cora said. “Triston put some good swings two nights ago but I felt like today was a good day to have this configuration.”
The switch comes at a time when Boston’s struggling offense has scored only 11 runs in six losses. The Red Sox are 1-5 in that stretch.
“Going through a bad week, overall,” said Cora. “At home, we didn’t pitch well. We haven’t played good defense the whole week and we haven’t hit. It’s one of those that’s gonna happen throughout the season. It’s just early and everything gets magnified. But the one thing I’m excited about and pleased with is that 30% of our at-bats are with men in scoring position. We need to produce, of course, but if that’s happening, that’s good.”
Jarren Duran is back in the leadoff spot Sunday after having a rare day off Saturday. Carlos Narváez is catching Garrett Crochet, who will pitch against the White Sox for the first time in his career in his much-anticipated return to Rate Field.
First pitch is at 2:10 p.m. ET.
BOSTON RED SOX (7-9) @ CHICAGO WHITE SOX (4-10) · RATE FIELD · CHICAGO, IL · GAME 17
FIRST PITCH: 2:10 p.m. ET
TV CHANNEL: NESN (Watch on FUBO)
RADIO: WEEI 93.7 FM
PITCHING PROBABLES: LHP Garrett Crochet (1-1, 1.45 ERA) vs. RHP Shane Smith (0-0, 1.54 ERA)
RED SOX LINEUP:
1) LF Jarren Duran
2) DH Rafael Devers
3) 3B Alex Bregman
4) RF Wilyer Abreu
5) SS Trevor Story
6) 1B Triston Casas
7) 2B Kristian Campbell
8) C Carlos Narváez
9) CF Ceddanne Rafaela
WHITE SOX LINEUP:
1) DH Miguel Vargas
2) CF Luis Robert Jr.
3) 3B Lenyn Sosa
4) 1B Andrew Vaughn
5) LF Michael A. Taylor
6) 2B Chase Meidroth
7) RF Brooks Baldwin
8) C Matt Thaiss
9) SS Jacob Amaya
More Red Sox coverage
- Some Things I Think I Think: Red Sox are wise to take it slow with Roman Anthony
- Triston Casas, Red Sox hope his first career walk-off can help him turn things around fast
- Red Sox’ Garrett Crochet was not close to his best, but still plenty good enough
- Red Sox reactions: Wall-scraper from Triston Casas delivers extra-inning win
- How Red Sox plan to get Tanner Houck back on track after disastrous outing in Tampa
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