ARLINGTON -- Shin-Soo Choo is on the American League Division Series roster for the Rangers and will be batting ninth, while Blue Jays manager John Gibbons will roll with a familiar lineup in Game 1, scheduled for Thursday at 4:30 p.m. ET/3:30 CT on TBS, as well as Sportsnet (English) and TVA (French) in Canada.
Carlos Gómez will lead off and play left field for Texas. He will be followed by Ian Desmond in center, Carlos Beltrán at designated hitter, Adrián Beltré at third base, Rougned Odor at second base, Jonathan Lucroy at catcher, Mitch Moreland at first base and Elvis Andrus at shortstop.
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Choo, who missed six weeks with a broken left forearm, will play right field. He played three games against the Rays last weekend and was 2-for-12. It was his first action since Aug. 15.
Gibbons opted to use Ezequiel Carrera and Melvin Upton Jr. at the corner outfield positions for Game 1 because of starter Marco Estrada's tendency to record a lot of outs in the air. Estrada induced ground balls just 33.5 percent of the time during the regular season, which ranked last in the Blue Jays' starting rotation.
"Estrada gets fewer ground balls than anybody in baseball," Gibbons said. "He's a fly-ball guy. Big outfield, so we have to get our top runners out there to catch fly balls since he's on the mound. If somebody else is pitching, [José Bautista] will probably be out there in right. That's strictly for Estrada."
The Blue Jays' lineup is similar to the one used against Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman in Tuesday's 5-2 win in the AL Wild Card Game. Bautista switches to designated hitter with Carrera moving to right field. Right-handed hitter Upton takes the left-field spot from lefty Michael Saunders.
Blue Jays
Devon Travis, 2B
Josh Donaldson, 3B
Edwin Encarnacion, 1B
Bautista, DH
Russell Martin, C
Troy Tulowitzki, SS
Kevin Pillar, CF
Upton, LF
Carrera, RF
Estrada, P
Rangers
Gomez, LF
Desmond, CF
Beltran, DH
Beltre, 3B
Odor, 2B
Lucroy, C
Moreland, 1B
Andrus, SS
Choo, RF
Cole Hamels, P