Cora reshuffles Red Sox lineup, drops Trevor Story from No. 2 spot

With the struggling 2-7 Purple Sox in want of a jolt, Alex Cora put his lineup right into a blender on Monday forward of Boston’s sequence opener towards the Brewers.

As a part of the reshuffle, designated hitter Masataka Yoshida will bat second behind leadoff hitter Roman Anthony, with Trevor Story slotted right down to the No. 5 spot. Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu have been bumped as much as the No. 3 and No. 4 spots, respectively, within the lineup.

With Anthony in left subject and Yoshida (two doubles, 3 RBI in seven video games) slotted in at DH, Jarren Duran will likely be on the bench Monday as Brayan Bello (0-1, 9.64 ERA) appears to get the Purple Sox again on monitor towards Brewers righty Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 3.60 ERA). ​

Here’s a take a look at Boston’s reworked lineup on Monday night, with first pitch from Fenway Park set for six:45 p.m.

1. Roman Anthony LF
2. Masataka Yoshida DH
3. Willson Contreras 1B
4. Wilyer Abreu RF
5. Trevor Story SS
6. Marcelo Mayer 2B
7. Caleb Durbin 3B
8. Carlos Narváez C
9. Ceddanne Rafaela CF

Story’s struggles to start out this season have hindered the highest of Boston’s batting order, providing little safety behind Anthony by the primary week-plus of the 2026 marketing campaign.

Story, 33, is batting simply .119 on the season with zero walks and 17 strikeouts throughout 42 at-bats. Even when Yoshida’s batting common doesn’t leap off the web page (.231), he has labored six walks thus far this season.

“Simply combine it up,” Cora stated of his lineup modifications, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. “Hopefully, a unique spot lets you unlock it and chill out. However as you guys know, on this sport, you possibly can’t management the at-bat. At one level, it’s most likely bases loaded, two outs, and it’s the identical factor.

“So no matter the place you hit, we’ve gotta make certain we gradual it down. We’ve been speaking about swinging rather a lot and chasing. So this can be a good pitching workers. They’re very aggressive within the zone. So hopefully be on time and put good swings on it.”

Whereas Boston scored six runs in a irritating loss to the Padres Sunday afternoon, the Purple Sox have left rather a lot to be desired thus far in 2026 in relation to doling out injury towards opposing pitching.

Boston is averaging simply 3.3 runs per sport, rating twenty sixth in MLB in stroll share (8.4 %) and fifth in strikeout share (27.8 %).

 

Conor Ryan is a workers author masking the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Purple Sox for Boston.com, a task he has held since 2023.