Red Sox vs. Yankees lineups: Sandy Leon called up, catches Chris Sale

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It didn't take Alex Cora very long to pencil Sandy Leon into the lineup for the first time this season.

Leon will make his 2019 debut Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, just hours after being called up from Pawtucket when the Red Sox designated Blake Swihart for assignment.

Hopefully having Leon behind the dish will turn things around for Chris Sale, who has stumbled his way to an 0-3 start along with a 9.00 ERA, giving up 13 earned runs and four home runs in 13 innings so far this season.

Leon has caught Sale in most of his outings since he arrived in Boston, including in 31 of 32 regular-season games in 2017. Overall, Sale has a 2.42 ERA in the regular season with Leon as his catcher, compared to a 4.50 ERA when Christian Vazquez is behind the plate.

While Leon's skills behind the plate are well-documented and appreciated by Boston's pitching staff, he's not exactly known for his bat. He hit just .177 last season and was batting .120 in seven games with Pawtucket this season.

Here are the lineups for the Red Sox and Yankees, who both come into tonight's series-opener with sub.-.500 records:

BOSTON RED SOX (6-11)

Mookie Betts, RF
Xander Bogaerts, SS
J.D. Martinez, LF
Steve Pearce, DH
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Eduardo Nuñez, 2B
Rafael Devers, 3B
Sandy Leon, C
Jackie Bradley, Jr., CF

Chris Sale, LHP (0-3, 9.00 ERA)

NEW YORK YANKEES (6-9)

D.J. LeMahieu, 2B
Aaron Judge, RF
Luke Voit, 1B
Gleyber Torres, SS
Clint Frazier, DH
Gio Urshela, 3B
Brett Gardner, CF
Austin Romine, C
Mike Tauchman, LF

James Paxton, LHP (1-2, 6.00 ERA)

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