BOSTON - The Red Sox home-closing series will take on a much different look than that of its home-opening series.
What had started out as a season filled with high expectations quickly turned sour at the plate and on the mound, and though the last month or so has been entertaining, the Red Sox were just too bad for most of the season.
That and a number of injuries to their pitching staff is why they'll close out Fenway Park this weekend against the Orioles with a rotation that looks like this: Rich Hill, a bullpen grab bag, and Henry Owens.
The 35-year-old Hill will make his third start for the Red Sox on Friday and has been extremely effective in his first two, allowing just three earned runs on eight hits and a walk over 14 innings.
Since the Sox are so low on arms, they're forced to throw a bullpen game on Saturday. Lovullo isn't sure which relievers will go in that game, seeing as anything could happen with the bullpen to that point (Pray for rain, folks).
By throwing the bullpen guys on Saturday, the Sox can avoid another bullpen game during their series with the Yankees, a team that still has something to play for.
That series, said Torey Lovullo, is when Eduardo Rodriguez could slide in to make a start.
"The way we're trying to line it up is being as professional, as consistent as we possibly can with consideration to the pennant race," Lovullo said. "We don't want to have an advantage or disadvantage. We want to go into Yankee Stadium with the guys that we know we're going to be using and make it as a competitive environment and best series possible. We want to play tough baseball."
The Yankees and Blue Jays are still fighting for the A.L. East division crown. The Blue Jays lead the Yankees by 2 1/2 games heading into Wednesday night.
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Pablo Sandoval was again home sick on Wednesday as he continues to fight what Torey Lovullo is calling a "significant upper respiratory infection".
Lovullo stopped short of saying Sandoval would be "shut down" for the season, as he doesn't want players to feel as if they shouldn't be trying to get back into action with their everyday activities.
Lovullo did say, however, that Sandoval was still a couple of days away and he's being kept away from the team as to not get anybody else sick.
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You'll notice that Brock Holt is out of the Red Sox lineup for the second straight game, but that isn't due to injury.
Though Holt was a bit banged up during the second half of the season, Lovullo said the idea behind sitting him Wednesday night is just to get another look at Deven Marrero at third base, who the Sox seem to like over there.