Alex Cora reshuffles Red Sox lineup, drops Trevor Story out of No. 2 spot

Trevor Story was bumped down to the No. 5 spot in Boston's batting order after a rough start to the 2026 season.

Trevor Story was dropped further down the batting order on Monday. Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe

April 6, 2026 | 5:29 PM

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With the struggling 2-7 Red Sox in need of a jolt, Alex Cora put his lineup into a blender on Monday ahead of Boston’s series opener against the Brewers.

As part of the reshuffle, designated hitter Masataka Yoshida will bat second behind leadoff hitter Roman Anthony, with Trevor Story slotted down to the No. 5 spot. Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu were bumped up to the No. 3 and No. 4 spots, respectively, in the lineup.

With Anthony in left field and Yoshida (two doubles, 3 RBI in seven games) slotted in at DH, Jarren Duran will be on the bench Monday as Brayan Bello (0-1, 9.64 ERA) looks to get the Red Sox back on track against Brewers righty Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 3.60 ERA).

Here is a look at Boston’s reworked lineup on Monday evening, with first pitch from Fenway Park set for 6:45 p.m.

Roman Anthony LF
Masataka Yoshida DH
Willson Contreras 1B
Wilyer Abreu RF
Trevor Story SS
Marcelo Mayer 2B
Caleb Durbin 3B
Carlos Narváez C
Ceddanne Rafaela CF

Story’s struggles to start this season have hindered the top of Boston’s batting order, offering little protection behind Anthony through the first week-plus of the 2026 campaign.

Story, 33, is batting just .119 on the season with zero walks and 17 strikeouts across 42 at-bats. Even if Yoshida’s batting average doesn’t leap off the page (.231), he has worked six walks so far this season.

“Just mix it up,” Cora said of his lineup changes, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. “Hopefully, a different spot helps you to unlock it and relax. But as you guys know, in this game, you can’t control the at-bat. At one point, it’s probably bases loaded, two outs, and it’s the same thing.

“So regardless of where you hit, we’ve gotta make sure we slow it down. We’ve been talking about swinging a lot and chasing. So this is a good pitching staff. They’re very aggressive in the zone. So hopefully be on time and put good swings on it.”

While Boston scored six runs in a frustrating loss to the Padres Sunday afternoon, the Red Sox have left a lot to be desired so far in 2026 when it comes to doling out damage against opposing pitching.

Boston is averaging just 3.3 runs per game, ranking 26th in MLB in walk percentage (8.4 percent) and fifth in strikeout percentage (27.8 percent).