After the Boston Red Sox took two out of three games from the New York Yankees, they traveled north for the first of a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre on Monday for the first time in 2024.
For the matchup, Boston will send Nick Pivetta to the mound while Toronto will counter with Yusei Kikuchi.
Here's what Alex Cora's lineup will look like for the series opener:
- Jarren Duran LF
- Rob Refsnyder RF
- Tyler O’Neill DH
- Rafael Devers 3B
- Connor Wong C
- Romy Gonzalez 2B
- Bobby Dalbec 1B
- David Hamilton SS
- Ceddanne Rafaela CF
And, here's John Schneider's:
- Davis Schneider 2B
- Danny Jansen C
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 1B
- Daulton Varsho LF
- Justin Turner DH
- George Springer RF
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa SS
- Ernie Clement 3B
- Kevin Kiermaier CF
Pivetta has been solid for the Red Sox this season, posting a 3.88 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP in his nine starts. His last outing was one of his worst, as he gave up four runs on six hits and four walks to the Philadelphia Phillies over four innings last week. 8 different Blue Jays have recorded hits off of him in his career - Guerrero Jr. (7-for-31 with three home runs, seven RBIs and six walks), Jansen (2-for-6 with a walk), Kiermaier (5-for-20 with five RBIs), Kiner-Falefa (3-for-17 with two RBIs), Schneider (1-for-3 with a walk), Springer (10-for-27 with a home run, three RBIs and four walks), Turner (3-for-6 with a home run and two RBIs) and Varsho (4-for-8 with two home runs, three RBIs and a walk).
Kikuchi has been pretty good for Toronto through 14 starts in 2024, recording a 3.26 ERA (30th in baseball) and a 1.23 WHIP. He's allowed just one run in his last 11 innings pitched, but he allowed 10 in the 8 1/3 innings before that. He's allowed hits to six different Red Sox in his career - Dalbec (1-for-4 with two walks), Devers (2-for-13 with a home run and three RBIs), McGuire (1-for-5), Refsnyder (3-for-6 with two RBIs and a walk), Wong (2-for-4) and Yoshida (2-for-4 with a solo home run).
