BOSTON -- The Red Sox hope to continue their recent dominance over the Royals Friday night - but this could be their toughest test yet.
Johnny Cueto takes the mound for Kansas City where he's been pretty much lights out since coming over at the trade deadline. In four games, Cueto is 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA and 21 strikeouts. He's allowed just one run over his last two starts (17.0 IP).
The Red Sox haven't seen a whole lot of Cueto since he's spent his career with the Reds, but they know plenty about him.
"The time that we have seen him he's just very strategic with powerful stuff," Torey Lovullo said. "He's got a great feel for pitching. He changes his delivery as we've all seen. But the bottom line is he's throwing some quality pitches in the zone, attacking hitters, and he's had a lot of success. So I'm really excited to see how we go after that tonight. We've been swinging the bats pretty good. It should be a good challenge both ways."
Two people who won't be swinging the bats - at least to begin things - are Jackie Bradley Jr. and Brock Holt, both out of Friday's lineup. Castillo and Bradley are simply rotating, and it's Castillo's night to play. Holt is dealing with some general soreness, which is why he's missing his second straight game.
"He's just a little banged up," Lovullo said. "He just needed another day. I decided to give him another day to get caught up. I know I've been talking a lot over the past couple days about these guys getting tired, fatigued. Instead of staying with it, we want to get a little bit ahead of it. But he's available tonight if needed. I've talked to Brock about a couple circumstances that I would go to him and use him but given what we know today he should be in there tomorrow."
Pablo Sandoval is batting out of the second spot in the order once again.
Boston Red Sox
Meanwhile, Henry Owens is set to take the mound for the Sox. This will be the best pitcher he's faced in his young career, but Lovullo doesn't think that will affect him.
"In Henry's case, he's rock solid," Lovullo said. "He's got the great presence, the great savvy that's going to give him the opportunity to go out and perform. He went up against Justin Verlander in Detroit and was unfazed by it. I think Henry takes the necessary information that's typical of all our starting pitchers, goes with it, and draws up a game plan."
Here are the full lineups:
RED SOX:
Mookie Betts, CF
Pablo Sandoval, 3B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
David Ortiz, DH
Hanley Ramirez, LF
Travis Shaw, 1B
Rusney Castillo, RF
Blake Swihart, C
Josh Rutledge, 2B
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Henry Owens, P
ROYALS:
Alcides Escobar, SS
Ben Zobrist, 3B
Lorenzo Cain, CF
Eric Hosmer, 1B
Kendrys Morales, DH
Salvador Perez, C
Alex Rios, RF
Paulo Orlando, LF
Omar Infante, 2B
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Johnny Cueto, P