BOSTON — The Red Sox will start their big weekend series against the Yankees with one of their rookie newcomers in the lineup and one of their everyday regulars on the bench.
A different-looking Red Sox lineup against soft-tossing lefty Ryan Yarbrough has Roman Anthony playing right field and both Marcelo Mayer and Jarren Duran sitting Friday night. Cora said he planned to pick his spots with Anthony and Mayer, both left-handed hitters, against left-handed pitchers. After three starts against right-handers in his first three big league games, Anthony will be given the challenge of a left-on-left matchup Friday. That doesn’t guarantee he’ll be in the lineup Saturday and Sunday with veteran southpaws Carlos Rodón and Max Fried set to start for New York.
On Friday, lefty-masher Rob Refsnyder is the leadoff man and Romy Gonzalez is playing first base and hitting third. Switch-hitter Abraham Toro is at third base over Mayer.
“We cannot play them all,” manager Alex Cora explained. “Play Roman today, we felt the matchup is a good one. (Refsnyder) leading off, Romy hitting third. It felt like it’s the right one for this matchup. Then, we’ll decide tomorrow what we’re going to do. We’ll take it day by day.
“They’re gonna get at-bats. They will. Everybody will.”
In their early days in the majors, the Red Sox have been careful batting Mayer and Anthony against left-handed pitchers. Mayer has started just once in five games against lefties since debuting and Anthony was lifted for a pinch-hitter (Gonzalez) in his debut Monday. Cora has cited the fact that both Refsnyder (.958 OPS against lefties) and Gonzalez (.950 OPS) are elite against southpaws as a reason for younger players sitting. He has also mentioned the importance of keeping the hot-hitting Toro in the lineup and the fact that he’s virtually matchup-proof late in games as a switch-hitter who can handle pitchers from both sides.
It sounds like Mayer, though, will get the chance to start Saturday night against Rodón. The 22-year-old had a breakout game Wednesday with two homers off Tampa Bay righty Zack Littell.
“Toro is playing third and Romy is playing first (Friday),” Cora said. “They’re doing a good job, too. Most likely, (Marcelo) will play third tomorrow. But this is where we’re at. We’ve got 13 good position players. We’ll use the roster to our advantage.”
The Red Sox also used their newly formed outfield logjam as a way to get Duran an extra day of rest after he started 69 of the team’s first 70 games in the outfield. Duran has sat just once this year — all the way back on April 12 against the White Sox — and has scuffled to a .634 OPS against left-handed pitching in 2025.
“With Jarren, also, he has been playing a lot,” said Cora. “Giving him two days is good. You saw him limping the other day after a swing, the slide at third. It’s not that he’s grinding physically but it’s good for him to have two. We’ll go from there.”
RED SOX LINEUP:
- LF Rob Refsnyder
- DH Rafael Devers
- 1B Romy Gonzalez
- C Carlos Narváez
- RF Roman Anthony
- SS Trevor Story
- 3B Abraham Toro
- CF Ceddanne Rafaela
- 2B Kristian Campbell
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