After a satisfying if not slightly nerve wracking victory last night, the Sox and Twins get an early start today with a 12:10 local start time. As we’ve seen with the day after night games earlier in the season, we get the Day of Rest Lineup normally experienced on Sundays. Chris Sale will be the poor soul who will be required to keep a struggling offense in the game while it is missing its top hitter. Sale should be up to the task, he’s been pretty close to lights out in all but one start this year and continues to lead the league in ERA.
Nick Blackburn has been on a “hot streak” for the Twins. He started out 0-4 and has won 4 straight decision since then. He’s also never gone longer than 6 innings in that stretch and has managed to give up less than 4 runs just once. He doesn’t strike guys out much and the Sox should be able to take advantage of all the balls he lets into play.
Today’s Lineup:
1.De Aza – CF
2.Escobar – 3B
3.Youkilis – 1B
4.Dunn – DH
5.Rios – RF
6.AJ – C
7.Ramirez – SS
8.Jordan Danks – LF
9.Hudson – 2B
No Tank, no Gordo, no Paulie. Mabe it won’t matter since the only folks that have gotten hits this entire series are Alexei Ramirez, Kevin Youkilis and everybody’s new favorite hero, Alex Rios.