Red Sox lineup: Tanner Houck returns to the mound (shoulder fatigue)
Tanner Houck returns to the mound after he was scratched from his last start due to right shoulder fatigue.
Houck was scratched 55 minutes before his start last Friday against the Yankees. The right-hander enters Wednesday’s outing with a 3.24 ERA over 28 starts. This will be Houck’s sixth career start versus Tampa Bay, and over those starts, he is 1-4 with a 4.45 ERA.
The Sox have lost seven of Houck’s previous eight starts (9-1 in his prior 10).
Tampa Bay will counter with starter Ryan Pepiot, and he will be making his second career start versus Boston.
He last pitched against the Sox on May 22 earlier this season at Tropicana Field; he tossed four innings, giving up three earned runs off two hits with four walks and three strikeouts. Pepiot held the Sox’ lineup scoreless over three frames, despite the three free passes. The Rays would lose that gave 8-5.
Rafael Devers went 0-for-4 in the series opener with two strikeouts. He’s 32-for-150 (.213) since the start of August. The left-handed slugger is hitting .182 (16-for-88) with just two extra-base hits since Aug. 19.
Triston Casas is one homer and one RBI away from 100 in each stat column. He went 1-for-2 with a homer, two RBI, and a run scored in the loss on Tuesday.
Casas is batting .157 (8-for-51) in 18 games since Aug. 28, after batting .356 (15-for-42) in his first 11 games after he was reinstated from the 60-Day IL on Aug. 16.
Tyler O’Neill is in left field and will bat third. The slugger is hitless in his last six at-bats. O’Neill has six home runs in his last 10 games.
Boston has lost nine of their last 10 road games and trails the Twins by five games for the final American League wild-card spot.
Key stats and Red Sox lineup
Red Sox vs. Pepiot: Wilyer Abreu 0-1, Rafael Devers 0-1, Jarren Duran 0-2, Ceddanne Rafaela 1-2, Rob Refsnyder 1-2, Connor Wong 0-2
Rays vs. Houck: Jonathan Aranda 2-5, José Caballero 1-5, Junior Caminero 1-3, Jonny DeLuca 0-2, Yandy Díaz 3-10, Brandon Lowe 1-5, Josh Lowe 5-9, Christopher Morel 0-4, Ben Rortvedt 0-4, Jose Siri 1-2, Taylor Walls 0-4
Red Sox (75-76) lineup at Rays (74-77):
1. Jarren Duran CF
2. Rafael Devers 3B
3. Tyler O’Neill LF
4. Masataka Yoshida DH
5. Connor Wong C
6. Wilyer Abreu RF
7. Triston Casas 1B
8. Trevor Story SS
9. Ceddanne Rafaela 2B
SP: RHP Tanner Houck (8-10, 3.24 ERA)
The first pitch is at 6:50 p.m. and can be seen on NESN, Fubo, and Sling TV, and it can be heard on WEEI 93.7 FM.
