Game 113 Preview: Red Sox at Marlins



Tonight in Miami, the worst team in the American League will face off against the worst team in the National League. With 50 games remaining on the schedule, Koji sidelined for the rest of the season because of his wrist fracture and a number of other injuries, this season is finally beginning to wind down for the Red Sox. They begin another 2 game series against the Marlins tonight and will look to improve on their current 7 game winning streak against Miami, that included taking two last month at Fenway. Steven Wright (5-4 4.12) will look to build off his two best starts of his career as he takes on Justin Nicolino (1-1 4.09) who replaces Jose Fernandez after he strained his right bicep. Fernandez is coming off of Tommy John surgery and the speculation right now is he might be shut down for the rest of the season, given how poorly the team has played all season.

The Red Sox are 8-4 in inter-league play this year and have historically been one of the better teams since both leagues started to play each other. Something that might keep the interest in this team is how Manager John Farrell plans to interpret the young Sox players into the lineup, rotation and bullpen. Jackie Bradley Jr and Rusney Castillo both had productive weekends in Detroit and with Mookie Betts coming back to the team today after he suffered a concussion a couple of weeks ago, the outfield depth chart finally has some worthy competition.

Here is Farrell's first crack at the outfield situation with tonight's lineup:

Betts(CF)
Holt (2B)
Bogaerts (SS)
Ortiz (1B)
Sandoval (3B)
Swihart (C)
Castillo (RF)
Bradley Jr (LF)
Wright (P)

Quick Hits:

- Over his last 19 games, Blake Swihart is hitting .309 with 5 doubles and 7 RBIs
- Hanley Ramirez, who is not in tonight's lineup, is hitting just .218 since the All Star break
- Marlins reliever Bryan Morris has an ERA of 1.00 in his last 17 appearances
- Since June 23, Brock Holt has 2 extra base hits and is hitting .225

Have a question for Mike during the game or whenever a baseball discussion is going on, reach out via Twitter: @86flynn