BOSTON - For the second straight game, Mookie Betts finds himself batting out of the seven-hole.
It wasn't long ago that Betts was leading off for the Red Sox, and playing like one of the better leadoff hitters in the Majors.
But he's hit a rut over the last three weeks or so. Over his last 22 games, Betts is batting .224 with zero home runs, five RBI, and four runs. His OBP is .256 over that span.
"In Mookie's case he's gotten pitched to over the past three weeks where there seems to be a clearcut approach or pattern which some pitchers are using against him," John Farrell said on Thursday. "Moving him down to the seventh hole just to give him a little bit of a breather. We fully see him as a top-of-the-order type of guy, and confident he'l get back to that. Just a little but of a breather for right now."
Dustin Pedroia remains in the leadoff spot, and hitting behind him is . . . Hanley Ramirez.
That's the other big change in today's lineup, as Farrell is trying different things to see what can get his offense going.
"A guy that's swung the bat well against left-handed pitching," Farrell said of Ramirez. "I don't want to say that this is a left-handed hitting lineup, but to get our veterans in the top portion of the order, to give them the most number of at-bats. Looking to get a little bit of a spark and continue to find combinations that could potentially jumpstart us."
Farrell wouldn't say the move up had to do with Ramirez not hitting many extra-base hits right now, instead saying the team as a whole needs to do more.
"So we as a unit need to continue to find ways to either build combinations where we can hit and run with the bottom of the order, to the guys that are known and have a long record of driving the baseball with extra-base ability. That's what we're looking to get," Farrell said.
Here's the full lineups:
RED SOX
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, LF
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Napoli, 1B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Pablo Sandoval, 3B
Mookie Betts, CF
Blake Swihart, C
Rusney Castillo, RF
Steven Wright, RHP
TWINS
Brian Dozier, 2B
Torii Hunter, DH
Joe MAuer, 1B
Trevor Plouffe, 3B
Eddie Rosario, RF
Eduardo Escobar, SS
Kurt Suzuki, C
Shane Robinson, LF
Aaron Hicks, CF
Tommy Milone, LHP