The Boston Red Sox have won nine straight games and 27 of their last 30, but interim manager Chad Tracy is not afraid to tinker with the lineup.
The Red Sox face the Athletics’ left-handed pitcher Gage Jump as they go for their second double-digit win streak in the past month, and Tracy has made some eye-catching changes to the Boston lineup. Jump is the last pitcher to defeat the Red Sox, back on July 28.
Jahmai Jones leads off as designated hitter Saturday at Fenway Park, and Eli White makes his first start in left field, batting seventh. Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, Willson Contreras, Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, Nick Sogard and Connor Wong round out the order behind them, with Jake Bennett starting on the mound for Boston, according to Boston’s lineup announcement posted by MLB.com.
Jones is leading off for only the ninth time this season, but it’s his third time in four starts since the Red Sox acquired him in a July 14 trade after the Detroit Tigers designated him for assignment.
Tracy has made clear the final say on the lineup belongs to him.
“On a normal given day, this is what I’d like to do, and then we’ll talk about it and I can get ideas and hear about other people’s thoughts about where would be a good day for this guy, that guy,” Tracy said, according to the Boston Herald‘s Gabrielle Starr. “But the final pen-to-paper is my call.”
| BOSTON RED SOX STARTING LINEUP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP: Jake Bennett (LHP, #64) • 7-4, 2.90 ERA, 50 K | ||||||||
| August 8, 2026 • Fenway Park, Boston, MA • 4:10 PM EDT • Athletics at Red Sox | ||||||||
| # | Player | Pos | B | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS |
| 1 | Jahmai Jones | DH | R | 4 | 12 | 1 | .173 | .572 |
| 2 | Ceddanne Rafaela | CF | R | 15 | 60 | 16 | .289 | .800 |
| 3 | Caleb Durbin | 3B | R | 11 | 53 | 13 | .251 | .729 |
| 4 | Willson Contreras | 1B | R | 23 | 70 | 3 | .288 | .935 |
| 5 | Andruw Monasterio | SS | R | 6 | 29 | 3 | .272 | .789 |
| 6 | Eli White | RF | R | 5 | 17 | 4 | .228 | .676 |
| 7 | Nick Sogard | 2B | S | 0 | 3 | 0 | .242 | .685 |
| 8 | Jarren Duran | LF | L | 16 | 60 | 17 | .204 | .623 |
| 9 | Connor Wong | C | R | 3 | 19 | 3 | .252 | .718 |
| Lineups subject to change. Athletics lineup not yet announced. | ||||||||
Eli White’s First Start With the Boston Red Sox
Boston acquired White from the Atlanta Braves on August 3, hours before the MLB trade deadline, in a swap for minor league right-hander Tyler Uberstine. In White, Boston added a right-handed defensive and speed option to an outfield stocked with left-handed bats. White batted .233 in 69 games for Atlanta this season, but hit .299 with an .818 OPS away from Truist Park.
White hits seventh for the Red Sox against Jump, and gets the start over lefty-swinging Jarren Duran in left field, even though Duran has actually been red-hot over his last five games â showing signs of breaking out of his season-long slump â posting six hits and three home runs in that span.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow framed the addition as insurance for Rafaela and the club’s lefty outfielders, according to Red Sox insider SmittyOnMLB. “He gives us kind of a right-handed option to get Ceddanne a day if he needs it,” Breslow said, according to SmittyOnMLB. “He can really, really defend.”
Jarren Duran, who has struggled for much of the season, sits against the lefty Jump. Jones, meanwhile, gets only his second start as designated hitter for the Red Sox, a slot he never filled for the Tigers in 2026. Jones hit .137 in 57 games with the Tigers before the trade, but posted a .287 average and .937 OPS in a platoon role for Detroit’s 2025 playoff team.
| ATHLETICS STARTING LINEUP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP: Gage Jump (LHP, #61) • 4-7, 4.59 ERA, 73 K | ||||||||
| August 8, 2026 • Fenway Park, Boston, MA • 4:10 PM EDT • Athletics at Red Sox | ||||||||
| # | Player | Pos | B | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS |
| 1 | Henry Bolte | CF | R | 4 | 21 | 13 | .254 | .676 |
| 2 | Jacob Wilson | SS | R | 7 | 36 | 4 | .268 | .687 |
| 3 | Jonah Heim | DH | S | 11 | 36 | 0 | .226 | .704 |
| 4 | Tyler Soderstrom | LF | L | 18 | 53 | 1 | .245 | .807 |
| 5 | Tommy White | 1B | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | .267 | .579 |
| 6 | Brian Serven | C | R | 2 | 4 | 0 | .211 | .776 |
| 7 | Lawrence Butler | RF | L | 7 | 30 | 7 | .207 | .628 |
| 8 | Max Muncy | 3B | R | 5 | 20 | 3 | .222 | .670 |
| 9 | Alika Williams | 2B | R | 2 | 10 | 0 | .252 | .661 |
| Lineups subject to change. | ||||||||
Boston Red Sox Lineup Built to Attack Gage Jump
Jump, 23, snapped a five-decision losing streak the last time he faced Boston, firing six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and a career-high 19 whiffs in a 4-3 Athletics win on July 28. The left-hander entered that start on a five-game skid that saw his ERA balloon by more than two runs.
“The fastball and slider were playing really good today,” Jump said, as quoted by MLB.com. “So, just knowing that I have those weapons to get chase when I need to.”
Jump, who owns a 4.00 ERA this season, according to CBS Sports, walked four batters but still overpowered Boston’s lineup. Jones led off as DH and went 1-for-3 with a double in that July 28 defeat, one of the few bright spots for Boston against Jump’s fastball-slider combination, which perhaps explains why Tracy chose to place him in the same spot for the rematch against Jump.
Boston enters Saturday at 64-51 after Friday’s 13-1 rout of the Athletics extended the winning streak to nine games.
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