The Tampa Bay Rays will look for a tenth consecutive win Wednesday when the Boston Red Sox return to Tropicana Field for the third game of this four-game series. Drew Rasmussen (1-1, 3.64 ERA) will get the start, taking on Chris Sale (3-0, 2.35 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10.
Rays Starting Lineup
Arozarena RF
Cruz DH
Franco SS
Diaz 1B
Margot CF
Zunino C
Luplow LF
Wendle 3B
Walls 2B
Red Sox Starting Lineup
Schwarber 1B
Renfroe RF
Devers 3B
Martinez DH
Verdugo LF
Vazquez C
Duran CF
Lopez 2B
Arauz SS
Rays Confident Walls Can Handle Second
Taylor Walls will make his first big-league start at second base tonight after playing at shortstop through his first 39 games with the Rays this year before he was optioned down on July 22, but both he and the coaching staff are confident that he will have no problems on the other side of the diamond.
“Ninth inning, game on the line, we want the ball hit to him,” manager Kevin Cash said.
Walls has spent time in Durham at second base, shortstop, and third base since being sent back down, and Cash said with how Wander Franco has progressed over the past month, the plan at present is to have Walls play second and third, and spell Franco at short when he needs a day off.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
