TORONTO — Fresh off an ugly three-game sweep at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles this weekend, the Red Sox have a new cleanup hitter for their three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Hanley Ramirez, stuck in a 1-for-15 slump with eight strikeouts in his last four games, has been dropped to seventh in the batting order for the series opener tonight at the Rogers Centre.
It’s the lowest batting order position for Ramirez this season.
He’s also hitting .192 with runners in scoring position, making him among the least clutch hitters in baseball.
“But I don’t know that we can pinpoint or put all of this on Hanley,” manager John Farrell said on Sunday.