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Red Sox lineup vs. Yankees has Jarren Duran sitting, Masataka Yoshida at DH
BOSTON — Jarren Duran sat twice over the weekend as the Red Sox faced back-to-back tough lefties in Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez. On Monday, Duran is once again on the bench despite the Yankees starting the right-handed Luis Gil.
With Roman Anthony (left field) and Masataka Yoshida (designated hitter) both starting against Gil, Duran is the odd man out for the first meeting between Boston and New York this season. Elsewhere, the Red Sox lineup is as expected with second baseman Marcelo Mayer, third baseman Caleb Durbin and catcher Carlos Narváez starting. Willson Contreras is again hitting second behind the leadoff man, Anthony, while Yoshida is hitting third.
In the eyes of manager Alex Cora, who has rotated through his five outfield/DH types so far this season, the decision was about getting Yoshida — who is hitting .440 (11-for-25) with three doubles and five RBIs since April 5 — in the lineup. milkshake.it.com
“Masa’s swinging the bat well. He’s taking his walks and he’s putting good at-bats. It was his turn to play.”
Duran went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in Monday’s win and Cora chose to pinch-hit light-hitting utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa for him (to attempt to bunt) in the seventh inning. Duran’s average is down to .164 and he has a 28.4% strikeout rate so far this season.
“He’s chasing pitches,” Cora said. “Early on, he was taking his walks. Now, he’s chasing. We’ve got to make sure we swing at the right ones.”
The Red Sox, who split a four-game series against Detroit, won Monday. They are 9-13 so far this season and trail the first-place Yankees by four games. Boston made an expected roster move before the game, placing starter Sonny Gray on the injured list with a right hamstring strain and recalling lefty Tyler Samaniego from Triple-A Worcester.
First pitch is set for 6:45 p.m. ET and the game will air on NESN+ — not NESN — because of Game 2 of the Bruins-Sabres playoff series. Connelly Early will start for the Red Sox.
NEW YORK YANKEES (13-9) vs. BOSTON RED SOX (9-13) · FENWAY PARK · BOSTON, MA · GAME 23
FIRST PITCH: 6:45 p.m. ET
TV CHANNEL: NESN+, TBS
RADIO: WEEI 93.7 FM
PITCHING PROBABLES: RHP Luis Gil (0-1, 7.00 ERA) vs. LHP Connelly Early (1-0, 2.29 ERA)
RED SOX LINEUP:
- Roman Anthony LF
- Willson Contreras 1B
- Masataka Yoshida DH
- Wilyer Abreu RF
- Trevor Story SS
- Ceddanne Rafaela CF
- Marcelo Mayer 2B
- Caleb Durbin 3B
- Carlos Narváez C
YANKEES LINEUP:
- Amed Rosario 3B
- Aaron Judge RF
- Ben Rice 1B
- Giancarlo Stanton DH
- Cody Bellinger CF
- Randal Grichuk LF
- Jazz Chisholm Jr. 2B
- José Caballero SS
- Austin Wells C
More Red Sox coverage
- Red Sox calling up pitcher straight from Double-A in latest round of roster moves
- Red Sox veteran: ‘We have to own it. We have to find a way to get better’
- Red Sox’ Kutter Crawford details latest injury setback: ‘Currently, I’m shut down’
- Red Sox’ Connelly Early loses strike zone in final inning of work, pays the price
- Red Sox reactions: Boston manages just 4 hits in shutout loss to Yankees, drops to 9-14
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Sean McAdam: ‘There’s a lot going on right now’ - Red Sox’ starting pitching depth already being tested
BOSTON — Of all the problems the Red Sox might have expected to face this season, the depth of their starting pitching was not supposed to be one of them.
Lack of power? That was fairly obvious. Questions over their middle relief options? A likely issue at some point. Overcrowded outfield group? No surprise there.
But for all the other potential landmines, running short of suitable depth among starters was not supposed to be in the forecast.
And yet, here we are in late April, and already, they find themselves scrambling.
Their two principal reserves — Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval — both began rehab assignments, only to run into setbacks unrelated to both having missed all of last season. Crawford, who missed 2025 with wrist and knee issues, now has irritation of the flexor tendon. Sandoval, who underwent Tommy John surgery in May of 2024, is dealing with biceps tendinitis.
Those cases followed the news from earlier this month that Johan Oviedo, who was placed on the IL with a flexor strain in his elbow.
Finally, the latest development: Sonny Gray, forced out of Monday’s start with a hamstring strain that also landed him on the IL and will cause him to miss a couple of weeks minimum.
Is this any way to start a season?
If the long list of maladies were taking place in July or August, that would be understandable. Pitching injuries are inevitable and the attrition of a long season catches up with every team at some point.
But during the second homestand of the season? Before May 1? That’s ominous, at the very least.
“We can talk all we want about pitching. Every team goes through it,” said Alex Cora. “Some of them are lucky enough that they stay healthy throughout. We’ve been getting tested. We’ve got to make decisions and the moving parts. All the guys (in Worcester) have to step up and become part of the equation, instead of just developing in the minor leagues. Now, somebody who (maybe) wasn’t on the map is on map, now. We’ll see how it plays out.”
To be sure, there are potential replacements at Triple A, including Payton Tolle, who has big league experience, and Jake Bennett, who doesn’t. Worcester manager Chad Tracy strongly hinted Monday that Tolle would be joining the parent club at some point soon.
At the start of spring training, the projected rotation included Garrett Crochet, Gray, Ranger Suarez, Brayan Bello and Oviedo. Before five full turns of the rotation, that group has already been upended.
Only weeks ago, the Red Sox could afford to stash Tolle and Connelly Early at Worcester at the start of the season, a chance for further development. But that was before Oviedo underwhelmed, creating an opening for Early in the rotation, with Oviedo consigned to the bullpen — but only for a short period, when a significant dip in fastball velocity and some elbow stiffness sounded the alarm.
The existing depth also meant that Crawford and Sandoval were going to be allowed to begin the year on rehab assignments, progressing at their own pace. But new physical ailments surfaced, stopping their comebacks almost before they began.
“It’s a lot,” acknowledged Cora. “But there’s some talented guys that can come here and help us win ballgames. It’s a long stretch here, with 13 (games) in a row and we have to be smart — not only with players that are in play now, but also the guys here. We take a lot of pride in taking care of them early on and making sure that we keep them healthy so they can actually help (us later), and keep fresh and keep growing.
“There’s a lot going on right now. I know that. But I feel like we’re in an OK place.”
Frankly, that remains to be seen. Apart from the injuries which are testing the Sox, there’s the matter of performance. Crochet has been oddly hittable in three of his last four outings while Bello remains as inconsistent as ever.
Now, by the end of the week, the rotation will be 40 percent rookies and 40 percent underachieving veterans.
A certain amount of upheaval was to be expected, as injuries are commonplace when it comes to pitching.
But this many, this early, wasn’t part of the plan.
More Red Sox coverage
- Red Sox calling up pitcher straight from Double-A in latest round of roster moves
- Red Sox veteran: ‘We have to own it. We have to find a way to get better’
- Red Sox’ Kutter Crawford details latest injury setback: ‘Currently, I’m shut down’
- Red Sox’ Connelly Early loses strike zone in final inning of work, pays the price
- Red Sox reactions: Boston manages just 4 hits in shutout loss to Yankees, drops to 9-14
Read the original article on MassLive. Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Ligue 1 Review | Olympique de Marseille on a road to nowhere
We’re on a road to nowhere, come on inside. Words that could well serve as the new motto at Olympique de Marseille to go with the general redesign at the club. A modernised badge was unveiled at the start of the month, perhaps a tacit distraction from the previous months, during which head coach Roberto De Zerbi left after a humiliating defeat in Le Classique and club president Pablo Longoria stepped down. Sporting director Medhi Benatia also handed in his resignation before being convinced by owner Frank McCourt to remain until the end of the season.
The triumvirate that returned Marseille to the UEFA Champions League and had them dreaming of former glory has yet to be fully replaced. Habib Beye arrived in the technical area in late February and already faces questions about his suitability for the role, while Stéphane Richard succeeded Longoria as president earlier this month. Benatia’s status as a self-imposed dead man walking has done little to help alleviate this sense of transition and uncertainty that permeates the club.
When the key architects behind a project are all gone or going, is there any surprise that the general rudderlessness is then reflected onto the pitch? Les Phocéens have lost three of their last four games, the latest of which, a 2-0 defeat away to FC Lorient on Saturday afternoon, saw the club slide from fourth to sixth in the standings and left Benatia glowering at the microphone, lamenting a squad that he had helped put together.
Reaction to a ‘scandalous’ defeat
“It’s a scandal,” Benatia said in the mixed zone. “We were playing against a team that is almost already on holiday, even if they have quality, and we are playing the first of our five finals. We organise training camps to build connections and to work, and yet nobody reacts in the dressing room. Everything is calm, as if nothing happened.”
Having spent last week in Marbella doing a training camp, the squad will now spend most of this week at their training ground, La Commanderie. Following the defeat to Lorient, they had their day off on Sunday cancelled and will have double training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, while from Thursday to Sunday they will sleep overnight at La Commanderie in a lock-in ahead of the showdown with southern rivals OGC Nice.
The idea behind this approach could be seen in the post-match comments from Beye, when he said, “I saw a team that wanted to win, that played together, that fought for every ball… That is what I did not see from my team today.” The theory seems to be that if they can’t turn on their intensity on matchdays, then they will have to endure a week where they will have no choice but to demonstrate their intensity under the watchful eyes of management.
Marseille and the eternal rebuild
With L’Équipe reporting that several witnesses have allegedly told them that the players are mentally and physically “marked” by a draining season, it does leave you wondering how suitable this response to a poor run of form is and how well the squad will respond to this. Already, La Provence has written that many within the dressing room no longer support their manager.
The worry is that the management’s response will exacerbate an already tense scenario, when the reality of the situation is that the club has a favourable run of fixtures to right themselves before they face European rivals Stade Rennais (Beye’s previous team) on the final day of the season. Ahead of the match against Rennes, Marseille play relegation candidates OGC Nice, Le Havre AC, and FC Nantes.
This situation feels as if it is symptomatic of a club that has become trapped in an endless cycle of transition and eternal rebuild. Projects are torn down at the first hitch in the road, and players fly in and out through revolving doors. If the club hopes to right itself and reclaim its former status, perhaps the lesson it needs to learn is that the most extreme reaction is not always the right one.
This week’s Ligue 1 sub-plots
- Lorient have come emboldened by their recent success, with the club on course for a top-half finish. The full takeover by Bournemouth owners Black Knight could see the club becoming a more aggressive force on the transfer market. However, they will have to do it without Olivier Pantaloni, the man responsible for the recent turnaround in fortunes for last season’s Ligue 2 winners. Read the full story HERE.
- Paris Saint-Germain suffered an unexpected defeat at home to rivals Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday evening in a match that has kept both the title and European race alive and well. For Lyon, the win sent them into third, while PSG are only a point ahead of RC Lens, although with a game in hand. Read how it happened HERE.
- AJ Auxerre thought they were on course for an invaluable three points in the race at the bottom of the table after they raced to a 2-0 lead against AS Monaco. A second-half comeback from the visitors would see the spoils shared, as Les Monégasques missed a chance to go level on points with Marseille. Read the full match report HERE.