One day after the Boston Red Sox successfully tinkered with their batting order, the host San Francisco Giants hope to do the same with their middle infield when the clubs continue their interleague series on Saturday night.
Bumped up one spot in the lineup because of hot hitting of late, Triston Casas responded to the promotion with an RBI double and solo home run to power the Red Sox to a 3-2 win over the Giants on Friday.
Casas earned the move from seventh in the order to sixth by going 18-for-40 (.450) in his previous 13 games. He had six homers and 11 RBIs during that run, and his batting average has climbed from .220 on July 6 to .256 now.
The Red Sox also benefited from Alex Verdugo flip-flopping spots with Casas. He went 1-for-3 in Friday’s win.
“One of them is really, really hot and the other one is struggling,” manager Alex Cora explained of the move, which was only unusual in that it came in the middle of a winning streak. Friday’s victory was Boston’s fifth in a row.
“We’re trying to give the guy that is hot more at-bats than the other one.”
The Red Sox likely will put their new-look lineup against Giants right-hander Ryan Walker (3-0, 2.70 ERA) on Saturday. Walker, 27, has yet to face Boston in his career.
The Red Sox are set to start left-hander James Paxton (6-2, 3.46). He rebounded from his worst outing of the season to limit the New York Mets to three runs in six innings in an 8-6 victory last Saturday.
Paxton, 34, will make just his second career start against the Giants. He won the first one while pitching for the New York Yankees on April 26, 2019, allowing three runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings (4.76 ERA) in a 7-3 win.
The veteran can count on seeing Giants prospect Marco Luciano in the lineup after the 21-year-old recorded his first major-league hit in Friday’s loss — a shot off third baseman Rafael Devers’ glove in the sixth inning. Luciano scored his first big-league run later in the inning.
Luciano has started at shortstop his first two games, but that might change Saturday. With Brandon Crawford eligible to come off the injured list, Luciano was working out at second base before Friday’s contest.
“You know how we feel about getting players prepared for any position that might pop up,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “We just want him to have all the tools around the bag. Just getting him familiar with the moves gives us some flexibility late in games, particularly given the possibility that both he and Craw are both on the roster at the same time.”
Brett Wisely, who has been the Giants’ regular second baseman, went 0-for-3 in Friday’s loss and saw his season average fall to .175.
–Field Level Media
