Masataka Yoshida has been one of the best hitters in baseball since July 1, hitting .348 with six homers, seven doubles and a .960 OPS in his last 37 games. But he’s not in the lineup Monday night as the Red Sox begin a key series against the Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Masataka Yoshida will start Monday on the bench with a left-handed starter on the mound for Houston. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)AP
For the second time in three days with a lefty on the mound for the other team, Yoshida will start the game on the bench. The Red Sox will instead use both catchers (with Danny Jansen catching and Connor Wong at designated hitter) against the Astros and lefty Yusei Kikuchi, who owns a 2.70 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 16⅔ innings since Houston acquired him from the Blue Jays ahead of the trade deadline.
Before Saturday, Yoshida had started 17 straight games at DH for the Red Sox. Despite his strong numbers against righties (.332 average, .880 OPS), he has struggled against southpaws all season. In 85 plate appearances, Yoshida is 15-for-72 (.208) with a .639 OPS while striking out eight times. Considering the Red Sox are 15-21 in games started by opposing lefties this season, there’s a clear effort being made to get right-handed bats like Jansen and Wong in the game against them.
“This is who we are. This is the roster we have,” said manager Alex Cora. “And he’ll be part of this (game). There’s going to be lefties he will face but I felt like today, having a righty there is gonna benefit us. When they pivot to righties, Masa’s gonna be ready.”
On Monday, Cora is hitting Tyler O’Neill in the No. 2 hole for just the second time since April. Rob Refsnyder is the third hitter and second baseman Romy Gonzalez is hitting fifth. Triston Casas is hitting seventh, just like he did Saturday against Orioles lefty Cade Povich.
The Red Sox have been hovering around neutral for the last few weeks, going 4-4 in their last eight games, 7-7 in their last 14, 10-10 in their last 10 and 12-12 in their last 24. They’ll look for a better showing against Houston this time around after being swept by the Astros at Fenway last weekend.
First pitch is at 8:10 p.m. ET.
BOSTON RED SOX (65-58) @ HOUSTON ASTROS (67-56) · MINUTE MAID PARK · HOUSTON, TX · GAME 124
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 Tanner Houck (8-8, 3.01 ERA) vs. LHP Yusei Kikuchi (6-9, 4.49 ERA)
RED SOX LINEUP:
1. CF Jarren Duran
2. RF Tyler O’Neill
3. LF Rob Refsnyder
4. 3B Rafael Devers
5. 2B Romy Gonzalez
6. C Danny Jansen
7. 1B Triston Casas
7. DH Connor Wong
9. SS Ceddanne Rafaela
ASTROS LINEUP:
1. 2B Jose Altuve
2. DH Yordan Alvarez
3. 1B Yainer Diaz
4. SS Jeremy Peña
5. C Victor Caratini
6. CF Jake Meyers
7. RF Trey Cabbage
8. LF Mauricio Dubón
9. 3B Shay Whitcomb
