Joe Mauer is not in the starting lineup tonight, no big surprise there. He is batting .176 against Boston lefty David Price, so it's probably a good time to give Mauer a break and let someone else try to hit him. Kennys Vargas will play first base instead of Mauer. Twins manger Paul Molitor pointed out that Vargas' swing is better from the left side than the right side. But Vargas is 4-for-7 with a home run against the lefties he's faced since being called up.
It's another chance for Vargas to prove he can be a factor in the teams' future. With Byung Ho Park at Rochester, Vargas could force the Twins to make a tough decision about who to go with in the future.
But Park isn't going away any time soon. He homered on Friday and entered tonight batting .321 with four homers and eight RBI over his last eight games.
Both Michael Tonkin and Trevor May, who threw a ton of pitches on Thursday, are available out of the bullpen tonight.
Mookie Betts, who led off the first two games of this series with a home run, is out of Boston's lineup because of a right knee strain. Brock Holt is the new leadoff hitter, so we'll see if the Twins can stop the leadoff home run streak at three. Remember, Ian Kinsler led off Wednesday's game with a homer as well.
Talked to Miguel Sano today. He's very disappointed in himself for dropping another popup and wants to prove he can focus better than that. Molitor spoke with Sano today and hopes the third baseman become unsure of himself in the field, because that would make things worse. More on that in the dead tree edition.
Twins
Eduardo Nunez, SS
Robbie Grossman, DH
Miguel Sano, 3B
Brian Dozier, 2B
Max Kepler, RF
Kennys Vargas, 1B
Eddie Rosario, LF
Kurt Suzuki, C
Byrin Buxton, CF
Ricky Nolasco, RHP
Red Sox
Brock Holt, LF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
David Ortiz, DH
Hanley Ramirez, 1B
Jackie Bradley, Jr. CF
Aaron Hill, 3B
Sandy Leon, C
Michael Martinez, RF
David Price, LHP