The Red Sox changed their lineup a couple of hours before gametime Monday and put Mickey Gasper into the designated hitter spot after removing Jahmai Jones from the card. Gasper, recalled from Triple-A on Sunday, was moved into the No. 8 spot as Nick Sogard took over the leadoff role.
The switch gave Gasper a quick turn from call-up to the lineup. He had been brought up to replace the recently injured Masataka Yoshida, and now he was starting less than a day later in a game that carried real weight for Boston's postseason chase.
Gasper's timing made the move notable. The Red Sox had listed Jones in the leadoff spot earlier in the day, then released a new lineup without him. By the time the revised order came out, Gasper was at designated hitter and the top of the batting order had been reshuffled.
Jones had been productive in limited work for the Red Sox, with 14 games and 25 plate appearances that produced a 1.433 OPS and six RBIs. That is why the late scratch stood out. The club had not given any reason for taking him out, leaving open whether he was unavailable for a baseball reason or something else entirely.
His broader season helped explain the contrast. Jones had struggled with the Detroit Tigers in 57 games earlier this year, posting a.440 OPS and minus-1.2 bWAR before his recent run with Boston. The Red Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks were in the middle of a three-game series at Fenway Park, with left-hander Mitch Bratt slated to start for Arizona, and Boston's decision came with the kind of urgency that usually accompanies a tight late-season race.
For now, the only certainty is the new order Boston had to settle on Monday: Jones out, Sogard up top, and Gasper back in the middle of the picture almost as soon as he arrived. The reason for the scratch remained the missing piece, and it was the one fact that mattered most once the lineup was final.
