Christian Vazquez kept out of Red Sox's lineup Thursday

Boston Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez is not in the starting lineup for Thursday afternoon's series finale against left-hander Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers.

What It Means:

Vazquez is taking a seat for the matinee after starting the previous six contests. Kevin Plawecki is catching for Martin Perez and hitting sixth in Thursday's battle between left-handers.

numberFire’s models project Plawecki for 9.6 FanDuel points and he has a $2,000 salary on Thursday. Per our MLB Heat Map, the Red Sox have an implied total of 5.3 runs and the over/under for the game is the highest total on Thursday's slate. Skubal is registering a 25.8 strikeout percentage with an 8.6 walk percentage this season. His xSLG (.504) ranks in the bottom five percent of the league, while his xERA (5.87) and xwOBA (.364) both rank in the bottom eighth percentile.