After a 12-inning battle on Tuesday night, the Red Sox (22-20) and Rays (21-22) are back at it again on Wednesday, their third game of this week’s quartet.
Vaughn Grissom has the night off after starting at second base for the first two games of the series. Instead, David Hamilton will cover the position.
“Gotta get Hammy (in the lineup),” Alex Cora said Wednesday afternoon. “He’s a good player, too. Not only he’s a good player, but for his development. He’ll play second today, most likely he’ll play short tomorrow, if not he’ll play at one point in St. Louis.” (The Red Sox start a three-game road series with the Cardinals on Friday.)
“He’s been good, I mean, it’s not easy,” Cora said of Hamilton, who’s become a utility infielder in recent weeks after being an every day player in the minors. “When you’re in that spot, when you come in late in the game, you have to make the play, everybody expects you to make the play. If you come to run, and they expect you to steal the base. You come up to bunt, you gotta get the bunt down. It’s not as easy as it looks, right? Be the utility guy on a championship-caliber team or in the big leagues.”
Hamilton enters the day hitting .200 with a .569 OPS over 18 games. He’s started 12 games this season, but only three of the team’s last 21 as the Red Sox have gotten healthier and Grissom assumed the starting second baseman role.
“Think he’s done a good job structure-wise,” Cora said of Hamilton. “He’s a good player. Just, we have to make sure we get him to a spot that he’s comfortable, especially offensively. We’ve been talking about it. He’s much better than this, and we know it.”
Jarren Duran CF
Wilyer Abreu RF
Connor Wong C
Rafael Devers 3B
Tyler O’Neill LF
Dom Smith DH
Garrett Cooper 1B
David Hamilton 2B
Ceddanne Rafaela SS
Yandy Díaz 1B
Josh Lowe DH
Randy Arozarena LF
Jonathan Aranda 2B
Isaac Paredes 3B
Richie Palacios RF
Jose Caballero SS
Ben Rortvedt C
Jose Siri CF
RHP Tanner Houck vs. RHP Taj Bradley
When: 7:10 p.m. ET
Where: Fenway Park, Boston
TV: NESN, Bally Sports Sun (Blackout restrictions may apply)
Red Sox radio: WEEI 93.7 FM, WCCM 1490 AM (Spanish)
Rays radio: WDAE 620 AM/95.3 FM, WQBN/1300AM
1901: In the American League’s inaugural season, the Boston Americans (now Red Sox) become the first shutout victims in AL history when the Washington Senators’ Watty Lee blanks them at Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds.
1951: The Red Sox celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first AL home game and Ted Williams marks the occasion by joining the 300 Home Run Club,.
1991: The Red Sox and White Sox set an unfortunate record when it takes them four hours and 11 minutes to play complete a game at Fenway, the longest nine-inning contest at that point in MLB history. Queen Elizabeth and President George H.W. Bush take in the A’s-Orioles game at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium.
2003: The Red Sox begin a record-breaking streak of consecutive sellouts which continues until April 2013.
(Sources: Baseball-Reference, SABR, Nationalpastime.com)