PHOENIX — On Friday, Alex Cora said he expected Jarren Duran to be the Red Sox’ leadoff hitter against right-handed starters with Roman Anthony out for the foreseeable future. A day later, Cora reversed course — and has an unusual choice in the No. 1 spot in his lineup.
For the first time in his major league career, designated hitter Masataka Yoshida will lead off for the Sox against the Diamondbacks and righty Brandon Pfaadt on Saturday night. Yoshida will hit two spots ahead of Duran, who is back in the third spot ahead of cleanup man Trevor Story. Yoshida is the fifth different Red Sox hitter to lead off this season, joining Duran (92 times), Anthony (27), Rob Refsnyder (11), Romy Gonzalez (6) and Nate Eaton (6).
Cora explained that Yoshida, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles Tuesday against Cleveland before sitting Friday with a lefty on the mound for Arizona, makes sense in the leadoff spot if he wants to keep Duran, Story and Nathaniel Lowe together in the order.
“He had a good game the other day,” Cora said. “Trying to keep Jarren, Trevor and Nate together. Run producers. They’ve been good with runners in scoring position and all that stuff. So we’ll give it a shot and see what happens.”
(Read Cora’s full explanation on Yoshida in the leadoff spot here.)
Eaton (right field) and Gonzalez (second base) are both in the lineup over Refsnyder, David Hamilton and Nick Sogard, who are on the bench to start. Carlos Narváez is catching Lucas Giolito.
Clearly, Cora was looking to jumpstart an offense that has looked out-of-sync in the two games since Anthony went down with an oblique injury. Boston scored one run in a blowout loss to Cleveland on Wednesday and had just one run through seven innings in Friday’s loss before a four-run rally in the eighth that (momentarily) made it a one-run game. Yoshida, though, has hit just .242 with two homers, eight doubles, 13 RBIs and a .654 OPS in 36 games in 2025.
Giolito, who is 9-1 with a 2.26 ERA in his last 15 starts since June 10, is 14 ⅔ innings short of hitting the 140-mark on the season, which would turn his club option into a mutual option for 2026 and effectively grant him free agency. That’s a storyline to watch down the stretch.
Boston has lost two in a row and, as of Saturday afternoon, sits 4 ½ games behind Toronto in the American League East race. The Yankees are a half-game above the Red Sox, who at 78-64 are in sole possession of the second wild card spot and are five games clear of the Rangers, who are on the outside looking in.
First pitch from Chase Field is at 9:40 p.m. ET.
BOSTON RED SOX (78-64) @ ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS (71-71) · CHASE FIELD · PHOENIX, AZ · GAME 143
FIRST PITCH: 8:10 p.m. ET
TV CHANNEL: NESN
RADIO: WEEI 93.7 FM
PITCHING PROBABLES: LHP Lucas Giolito (10-2, 3.38 ERA) vs. RHP Brandon Pfaadt (12-8, 5.33 ERA)
RED SOX LINEUP:
1) DH Masataka Yoshida
2) 3B Alex Bregman
3) LF Jarren Duran
4) SS Trevor Story
5) 1B Nathaniel Lowe
6) 2B Romy Gonzalez
7) C Carlos Narváez
8) CF Ceddanne Rafaela
9) RF Nate Eaton
DIAMONDBACKS LINEUP:
1) SS Geraldo Perdomo
2) 2B Ketel Marte
3) RF Corbin Carroll
4) 3B Blaze Alexander
5) DH Adrian Del Castillo
6) C James McCann
7) CF Alek Thomas
8) 1B Tyler Locklear
9) LF Jake McCarthy
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