Napoli sidelined by illness for finale vs. Jays

BOSTON -- For the second straight day on Thursday, the Red Sox were without cleanup hitter Mike Napoli, who is under the weather.

"Improved today," manager John Farrell said before the series finale against Toronto. "Still dealing with some dehydration. Still dealing with overall achiness and some nausea. We're hopeful at some point later this afternoon there may be the availability in today's game."

The absence of Napoli gave Mike Carp the chance to start two days in a row at first base.

Carp belted two doubles in Wednesday's 6-4 loss, showing flashes of the player who seemed to come up big every time he got a start in 2013.

"There's no hesitation [playing Carp]," Farrell said. "We're comfortable putting any guy in our roster in the lineup when called upon or when needed. We're fortunate that we do have some depth. We can go to a quality at-bat. I think as he's starting to show, the more consistent at-bats of late are starting to pay off with some timing and some hard-hit balls like last night."