The Boston Red Sox are tied at 2-2 in their American League Championship Series with the Detroit Tigers and with Game 5 coming on Thursday night after losing on Wednesday, manager John Farrell may be shaking up the lineup, as the team may start Xander Bogaerts.
According to Hardball Talk, the Boston Herald is reporting that Farrell is considering Bogaerts in Game 5 against the Tigers to help give a lift to the team after they lost 7-3 in Game 4 to get the series tied at 2-2. The Tigers shook up their own lineup on Wednesday, putting Austin Jackson down and moving Torii Hunter to the leadoff spot and it immediately paid off, as the team took a quick lead off starter Jake Peavy and never gave it back.
The game on Thursday night will have Jon Lester taking on Anibal Sanchez and the matchup in Game 5 could be major in deciding who wins the series, as the final two games will be in Fenway Park if necessary and Game 5 winners are more often than not the winners of the series, which could be why Farrell wants to shake things up, as going down 3-2 could be tough even with the Sox heading back home.
During the regular season in 18 games the rookie had one home run and five RBIs while hitting .250 and the team is very high on him, which is why they felt comfortable trading Jose Iglesias to the Tigers. Bogaerts struck out 13 times in 44 at-bats during the season and so far in the postseason he has played in four games while getting two at-bats and he had one hit in those chances, slamming a double and he also has two walks. The team feels that adding in Bogaerts with Will Middlebrooks and Stephen Drew struggling could help bolster the lineup and he showed off some power while playing in the minors this year, hitting just under .300 with 15 home runs and 67 RBIs and the Red Sox sure could use some of that, as they have barely scored in the series apart from the grand slam by David Ortiz.
Lester gives the Red Sox a chance to shut down the Tigers lineup on Thursday night and they would like to try and steal another game to bring a 3-2 series advantage back to Boston. Sanchez will be on the mound again after putting up a no-hitter through six innings in game 1, as the Tigers won the game 1-0 and he struck out 12 in the game. The Red Sox have been striking out at a very high rate this postseason and that is one reason why Farrell is making the move.
