Boston Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida is starting in left field and batting sixth in Friday's series opener against right-hander Jordan Lyles and the Kansas City Royals.
Yoshida is back in the lineup after being held out against a lefty last game. Rob Refsnyder is taking a seat and Alex Verdugo is moving back into the leadoff spot from the six-hole.
numberFire’s models project Yoshida ($3,100) for 10.0 and Verdugo ($3,300) for 11.6 FanDuel points on Friday. Per our MLB Heat Map, the Red Sox's implied total is 5.34, second-highest of the day, and the game total is 9.5. Lyles is having another rough campaign in 2023, as he has a 5.22 SIERA and 16.0% strikeout rate while coughing up 2.09 home runs per nine innings off a 48.8% fly-ball rate. In his last five starts, Lyles has allowed at least four runs in each game, and in his last three outings, he's given up seven runs twice.
Source: MLB.com