Red Sox lineup: No Triston Casas, Yoshida in against a southpaw, Kutter Crawford looks to end losing skid
Red Sox manager Alex Cora spoke with a sense of urgency in his voice, following the Red Sox’ 4-1 loss to the Mets at Citi Field on Monday night.
“We’ve gotta show up tomorrow and try to win a game, man,” Cora said. “We’re running out of time. Let’s put it that way. I know what the other teams are doing. They’re not playing well either. But the days that we don’t take advantage of it is a wasted day. So we’ve got to come here and find a way to win a game tomorrow.”
Boston is spiraling out of the race for the third and final Wild Card spot, sitting 4 1/2 games behind the Royals. With just 24 games left, the Red Sox will need to string some key wins together over the next week to remain in the playoffs.
The Red Sox will turn to Kutter Crawford on Tuesday night to help end their current losing skid. Boston has lost three straight games, after winning three of their previous four. Over the last 10 games, the Sox are 3-7, 8-12 in their last 20, and 13-17 in their last 30.
Crawford will face the Mets for the second time in his career. He is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA, giving up four runs off four hits over four innings with no walks and two strikeouts. Since the All-Star break, Crawford is 2-5 with a 7.24 ERA, giving up 33 earned runs over 41 innings. In his previous six starts, he went 4-1 with a 1.87 ERA over 33 2/3 innings.
Triston Casas sits to at least start the game; the Mets are countering with left-hander David Peterson (8-1, 2.83 ERA). The Sox are 15-23 against southpaws compared to 55-44 against right-handed starters.
Casas has hits in each of his last two games, including a single during the second inning in the loss on Tuesday night. Romy Gonzalez will bat fifth and play first base in Casas’ place.
Gonzalez is four for his last nine and has hit safely in 26 of his last 32 starts. This will be his 10th start at first base this season.
Masataka Yoshida will start and DH against the lefty; he is batting just .198 versus them this season. Danny Jansen is behind the plate and is 3-for-32 (.094) with no extra base hits in his last 11 games. When he was first acquired by the Red Sox, Jansen went 9-for-26 (.346) with two homers (eight games).
Key stats and Red Sox lineup
Red Sox vs. Peterson: Triston Casas 1-1, Rafael Devers 4-7, Jarren Duran 1-1, Danny Jansen 0-2, Masataka Yoshida 0-1
Mets vs. Crawford: Pete Alonso 0-2, Francisco Alvarez 0-2, Harrison Bader 1-4, Francisco Lindor 0-2, Jeff McNeil 1-2, Brandon Nimmo 1-2, Luis Torrens 1-2, Jesse Winker 0-3
Red Sox (70-68) lineup at the Mets (74-64):
Rob Refsnyder LF
Jarren Duran CF
Tyler O’Neill RF
Rafael Devers 3B
Romy Gonzalez 1B
Masataka Yoshida DH
Danny Jansen C
Ceddanne Rafaela SS
Nick Sogard 2B
SP: RHP Kutter Crawford (8-12, 4.12 ERA)
The first pitch is at 7:10 p.m. and can be seen on NESN, TBS, FuboTV, or Sling, and it can be heard on WEEI 93.7 FM.
