Red Sox-Astros 3/31/2026: Lineups, preview, TV
Brayan Bello will take the ball for the Red Sox on Tuesday for his first begin of the season. The righthander is 1-1 with a 2.19 ERA in three appearances (two begins) towards Houston.
The Astros will flip to prime starter Hunter Brown, who was an All-Star final yr and completed third in AL Cy Young voting behind Garrett Crochet and Tigers star Tarik Skubal. Brown is 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA in three begins towards Boston.
First pitch is about for 8:10 pm Eastern in Houston and on NESN. Here’s a preview.
RED SOX (1-3): Anthony LF, Story SS, Yoshida DH, Contreras 1B, Abreu RF, Monasterio 3B, Mayer 2B, Wong C, Rafaela CF
Pitching: RHP Brayan Bello
ASTROS (3-2): Pena SS, Alvarez DH, Altuve 2B, Correa 3B, Walker 1B, Loperfido LF, Smith RF, Diaz C, Meyers CF
Pitching: RHP Hunter Brown (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Time: 8:10 p.m.
TV, radio: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7
Red Sox vs. Brown: Wilyer Abreu 2-6, Roman Anthony 1-6, Willson Contreras 0-3, Jarren Duran 1-7, Isiah Kiner-Falefa 1-3, Carlos Narváez 0-2, Ceddanne Rafaela 3-8, Trevor Story 1-5, Connor Wong 2-5, Masataka Yoshida 0-6
Astros vs. Beautiful: Nick Allen 1-5, Jose Altuve 1-6, Yordan Alvarez 3-5, Carlos Correa 0-5, Yainer Diaz 1-5, Joey Loperfido 0-3, Isaac Paredes 2-7, Jeremy Peña 1-4, Christian Vázquez 0-1
Stat of the day: Caleb Durbin has began the season 0 for 14 on the plate.
Notes: Ranger Suarez allowed 4 earned runs on seven hits in 4 ⅓ innings in his Red Sox debut. “Obviously, very nice to be able to make my debut with the team,” Suarez stated by an interpreter. “Obviously, not happy about the outing that I had.” … Johan Oviedo, pitching in reduction of Suarez, struggled simply as enormously, permitting 4 runs on six hits in three innings. Most worryingly, his fastball velocity was down 2.5 miles per hour from final season. “I’m surprised, probably like everyone else,” he stated. “To be honest, I don’t know what’s going on right now.” … McCullers shined on Monday, which was sudden contemplating his struggles in recent times. The righthander missed all of 2023 and 2024 with accidents and posted a 6.51 ERA in his return in 2025. “He’s a guy that I always liked, and the fact that he’s pitching, it means the world,” Alex Cora stated. …Boston’s prime 4 bats of Roman Anthony, Trevor Story, Jarren Duran, and Willson Contreras mixed to go 1 for 15 with eight strikeouts.
Amin Touri will be reached at amin.touri@globe.com.
