Red Sox lineup: Nathaniel Lowe, Wilyer Abreu, Masataka Yoshida starting for Game 3

NEW YORK — After facing lefty starters in each of the first two games of the wild card series with the New York Yankees, the Red Sox will go up against a righty starter Thursday night in Game 3 — and their lineup reflects that.

Lefthanded-hitting Nathaniel Lowe and Wilyer Abreu are in the starting lineup for the first time this postseason as the Sox square off against rookie righty Cam Schlittler at Yankee Stadium.

In each of the first two games, the Red Sox went with as many righthanded options as they could against both Max Fried and Carlos Rodon. That means that Nate Eaton and Nick Sogard were starters as Lowe and Abreu opened the games on the bench.

The Sox will send rookie lefty Connelly Early to the mound in their must-win game. Early has just four major league starts in his brief career, but with injuries hitting the Boston rotation over the second half, the Red Sox don’t have much choice.

Early, who is 23 years and 182 days old, will be the youngest Red Sox starter to start a postseason game since Babe Ruth started Game 2 of the 1916 World Series at 21 years, 246 days.

Alex Cora opted for the right-handed Romy Gonzalez over the switch-hitting Nick Sogard at second base.

“He’s putting good at-bats,” said Cora of Gonzalez. ‘We talked about it, but I think this is a good matchup for Romy. I know he didn’t get hits in the first two (games), but he can get one of the fastballs and go the other way out of the ballpark. He played well for us in the end."

The Yankees, meanwhile, are loading their lineup with five lefties against Early. They, too, will pitch a rookie in 23-year-old Cam Schlittler, a Massachusetts native.

BOSTON RED SOX (1-1) vs. NEW YORK YANKEES (1-1) · YANKEE STADIUM · BRONX, NY · GAME 3 of AL WILD CARD SERIES

FIRST PITCH: 8:08 p.m. ET

TV CHANNEL: ESPN

RADIO: WEEI 93.7 FM

PITCHING PROBABLES: LHP Connelly Early (1-2, 2.33 ERA) vs. RHP Cam Schlittler (4-3, 2.96 ERA)

RED SOX LINEUP:

1) LF Jarren Duran

2) SS Trevor Story

3) 3B Alex Bregman

4) DH Masataka Yoshida

5) CF Ceddanne Rafaela

6) 1B Nathaniel Lowe

7) C. Carlos Narvaez

8) RF Wilyer Abreu

9) 2B Romy Gonzalez

NY Yankee lineup:

1) CF Trent Grisham

2) RF Aaron Judge

3) LF Cody Bellinger

4) DH Giancarlo Stanton

5) 1B Ben Rice

6) 3B Amed Rosario

7) 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr.

8) SS Anthony Volpe

9) C. Austin Wells

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