Red Sox's Christian Vazquez: Starts at first base

Vazquez started at first base, batted fifth, and went 1-for-3 with an RBI in Tuesday's 8-3 loss to Cleveland.

This was Vazquez's fourth start of the season at first base and third in the last 14 games, as Red Sox manager Alex Cora seeks to buttress the black hole that has been first base in 2022. The catcher is enjoying a bounce-back season, hitting .277 with eight home runs, 18 doubles and a .756 OPS over 77 games. He told Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com that he got carried away after bashing 23 home runs in 2019, trying to replicate that production, which led to a lot of flyball outs and a .659 OPS in 2021. At the urging of coaches, he's returned to an approach that stresses line drives. That can be seen in his batted-ball profile, which indicates an increased line-drive rate from 22.4 percent to 26.8 percent and a decreased flyball rate from 28 percent to 21.9 percent.