All-Sox series also pushed back a day

Red Sox, White Sox will play one game today, two Sunday and one on Patriots’ Day

Boston — Friday night's series-opener between the Red Sox and White Sox at Fenway Park was postponed due to winterlike conditions in Boston and a forecast of continued rain and snow throughout the night into Saturday morning.

The postponed game will be rescheduled as the second game of a split seven-inning doubleheader on Sunday at Fenway Park. The first game will start as originally scheduled at 1:10 p.m., with the second game following at about 5:10 p.m. Tickets for Friday night's game will be good for the rescheduled game on Sunday.

The doubleheader will be the Red Sox' second twin bill of the week. They had one on Wednesday in Minnesota after Monday's game was postponed after the police shooting of Daunte Wright last Sunday just outside of Minneapolis.

The Red Sox will now open their four-game series against the White Sox with a 4:10 p.m. game Saturday that begins a 10-game homestand, their longest of the season.

Alex Cora will have to do a little bit of shuffling with his starting rotation this weekend. Nick Pivetta will pitch Saturday and Martin Perez will pitch one of the games Sunday, but the Red Sox will need to add another starter — possibly Tanner Houck — for one of the games in Sunday's doubleheader. Nathan Eovaldi will start Monday's annual 11 a.m. Patriots' Day game.

White Sox provide good test

With the White Sox in town, the Red Sox have their toughest matchup of the young season against one of the American League favorites. Though they're off to a mediocre start at 6-7, there's plenty of talent there with a roster

that includes 2020 AL MVP Jose Abreu, former Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada and a starting rotation that includes Lucas Giolito, who will start Sunday.

The White Sox are managed by the legendary Tony La Russa, who returned to managing this season for the first time in 10 years, a span that included two years working with the Red Sox as an advisor with former president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski in 2018 and 2019.

"It's a good team, a team that made it to the playoffs last year. We've already played two (playoff teams), right? We've played the Rays, we've played the Twins. We played good against them," Cora said on Thursday. "It's going to be a different weekend, but we're ready for it, looking forward to see Tony on the other side, managing against a Hall of Famer, a guy that really helped us in '18 and '19, a guy that I look up to. It should be fun. He's one of the best in the history of the game and to manage against somebody like that is a privilege."

Alex Verdugo recognized the quality of a White Sox pitching staff that also includes Carlos Rodon, who threw a no-hitter on Wednesday, but expressed more confidence in the Red Sox offense.

"For me, I want to face the best of the best," Verdugo said. "I would really like to face them now so that way in the postseason, playoffs, anything we have later on, if it's like super meaningful games, you already have an idea or approach against those guys personal to yourself . ...

"I'm excited to face them. Obviously I saw what Rodon did (Wednesday), one batter away from getting like a perfect game . ... Then they got (Lance) Lynn and Giolito, so they got some guys, but at the end of the day, we bang. We bang. We're gonna swing, we're gonna put up good at-bats and if anything, I have confidence that we're gonna bring those pitch counts for those guys up and we'll get them out relatively early."

Arroyo looks to stay hot

After beating out Michael Chavis for the final bench spot on the Opening Day roster, Christian Arroyo has proved he's belonged in the early going. Going into this weekend, he's slashing .313/.333/.500 with six doubles, which ranked second in baseball as of Friday afternoon. He's also playing a very reliable second base, where he's started in eight of the Red Sox' 13 games.

"I think he's just getting more at-bats," Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers said. "He's kind of more comfortable I think in this lineup and I think Alex (Cora) has given him a big boost of confidence and I know that he feeds off that. The thing that's impressive is how he's using the whole field . ...

"When we see him using the whole field, I think that's when he's at his best and I think he's more comfortable doing that now.”