The Boston Red Sox take on the Tampa Bay Rays Friday night in the series opener at Tropicana Field as former Ray Michael Wacha will take the mound while J.D. Martinez remains out for the second straight day. While Kiké Hernandez returns, Will Venable will bat him at the fifth spot as he puts Trevor Story at the leadoff spot for the second straight day.
Tampa Bay is 7-6, and have won the past two games against the Cubs taking two out of three. The Rays will send Corey Kluber to the mound to open the three-game weekend set. After this, the Sox will travel to Toronto to take on the Blue Jays for a four-game series starting Monday, which they recently just dropped two out of three against.
Alex Cora is also missing his second straight game in coherence with Martinez after testing positive, while Jonathan Arauz and Kevin Plawecki both remain on the COVID-19 related injured list.
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Boston Red Sox Lineup vs. Rays
| Red Sox | |
| 1 | 2B Trevor Story |
| 2 | 3B Rafael Devers |
| 3 | SS Xander Bogaerts |
| 4 | LF Alex Verdugo |
| 5 | CF Kiké Hernandez |
| 6 | RF Jackie Bradley Jr. |
| 7 | 1B Bobby Dalbec |
| 8 | DH Travis Shaw |
| 9 | C Christian Vazquez |
| P | Michael Wacha (0-0, 0.96 ERA) |