The Red Sox will try to shake off Monday’s brutal loss Tuesday night against the Astros, and they’ll do it without Connor Wong in the lineup.
Danny Jansen will start over Connor Wong behind the plate Wednesday night in Houston. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)AP
With Danny Jansen catching for the third time in four days, Wong is out of Boston’s lineup for just the second time in the last 11 games (he was the designated hitter Saturday and Monday). The rest comes at a good time for Wong, who has caught 77 games for the Sox so far and has been struggling at the plate lately.
Entering Monday, Wong is hitting .258 with only five extra-base hits and a .641 OPS in 63 August plate appearances. He has struck out 21 times while walking just once. Dating back to July 2 — a period of 38 games — Wong owns a .232 average and .649 OPS.
After a hot start (.327, .856) through June, Wong has cooled off significantly. Still, the Red Sox are pleased with his at-bats and consider his overall season — during which he has hit .289 with 11 homers, 14 doubles and a .775 OPS — as a success.
“You look at the numbers and he has been solid,” said manager Alex Cora. “It’s a good player who has been playing a lot of games. You look at the season overall, did you expect that? Probably not. The guy has been good. He’s been good for us.”
Jansen has hit .281 with two homers and an .830 OPS in 12 games since coming over in a deadline trade with Toronto.
“He’s a good hitter. That thing (The Crawford Boxes) is right there so hopefully he can run into one today and give us a chance to win,” Cora said.
Against righty Ronel Blanco, the Sox will start David Hamilton at second base. He’ll hit eighth. Wilyer Abreu is back in the lineup after taking Monday off, hitting second.
The Red Sox are 12-17 since the All-Star break and find themselves 4½ games behind Kansas City for the third and final American League wild card spot. They’ll try to close the gap behind righty Nick Pivetta on Tuesday.
First pitch is at 8:10 p.m. ET. The Red Sox have lost all four games against Houston so far this season.
BOSTON RED SOX (65-59) @ HOUSTON ASTROS (68-56) · MINUTE MAID PARK · HOUSTON, TX · GAME 125
FIRST PITCH: 8:10 p.m. ET
TV CHANNEL: NESN
LIVE STREAM: fuboTV - If you have cable and live in the New England TV market, you can use your login credentials to watch via NESN on mobile and WiFi-enabled devices. If you don’t have cable, you can watch the game via fuboTV, in New England | Watch NESN
RADIO: WEEI 93.7 FM
PITCHING PROBABLES: RHP Nick Pivetta (5-8, 4.49 ERA) vs. RHP Ronel Blanco (9-6, 2.89 ERA)
RED SOX LINEUP:
1. CF Jarren Duran
2. RF Wilyer Abreu
3. 1B Triston Casas
4. 3B Rafael Devers
5. LF Tyler O’Neill
6. DH Masataka Yoshida
7. C Danny Jansen
8. 2B David Hamilton
9. SS Ceddanne Rafaela
ASTROS LINEUP:
1. 2B Jose Altuve
2. DH Yordan Alvarez
3. C Yainer Diaz
4. SS Jeremy Peña
5. 1B Jon Singleton
6. LF Mauricio Dubón
7. CF Jake Meyers
8. 3B Shay Whitcomb
9. RF Chas McCormick
