Red Sox Lineup: Masataka Yoshida To Bench Following Huge Season Debut

Boston Red Sox designated hitter/outfielder Masataka Yoshida made his long-awaited 2025 season debut on Wednesday night and helped the team finish a sweep against the Colorado Rockies with a 10-2 victory.

Yoshida, who missed the first 93 games of the year due to a shoulder injury, went 3-for-4 with a double, one run scored and one RBI. His trio of knocks were a game high.

Despite the huge effort, Yoshida will retreat to the bench for the series-opener against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday.

The 31-year-old’s move to the bench likely has nothing to do with his performance, but more so due to the team’s logjam in the outfield.

Even prior to Yoshida’s activation from the injured list on Wednesday, manager Alex Cora was already facing a difficult daily task of filling out a lineup card.

With outfielder Roman Anthony’s early season struggles now a distant memory, Cora has said that the rookie will remain in the starting nine on a regular basis.

That leaves 2024 All-Star Jarren Duran, 2024 Gold Glove Award winner Wilyer Abreu and the red-hot Ceddanne Rafaela fighting for playing time, alongside Anthony and Yoshida. Rob Refsnyder is also in the mix, having played 40 games in 2025, including 28 in the outfield.

One of the group is likely to serve as the designated hitter each game, with three others patrolling the outfield and two riding the pine.

It also wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Red Sox move one or two of the players ahead of the MLB trade deadline on July 31.

Yoshida served as the designated hitter during Wednesday’s win, while Anthony made his Fenway Park left field debut.

While No. 7 may have stolen the headlines in his monster season debut, some of his primary competition for playing time had big games as well.

Duran finished Wednesday’s blowout of the Rockies 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBIs and Abreu went 1-for-5 with a two-run home run.