ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – After his pinch-hit solo home run in the Red Sox’s 11-3 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday, David Hamilton is getting some more playing time.

The infielder is starting at second base and batting seventh in Monday evening’s series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays.

“We’re gonna use him the same way we’ve been using him. He’ll play short, he’ll play second,” Alex Cora said. “It just happens that today we feel this is a good matchup. He swung yesterday and we need offense, so play him today, he’ll probably play short one of the next two games.”

Hamilton enters the Rays series with a four-game hitting streak over which he’s 5-for-11 with a pair of doubles, a triple, home run, two runs, and three batted in. On Friday, he became the second Red Sox player since 2000 to record

Vaughn Grissom has the night off as a result. Though Cora praised the second baseman for his “great” defensive work thus far, he’s yet to find his swing after missing spring training and the start of the season due to a groin strain and losing 14 pounds due to the flu. He’s 0-for-8 and hitting .135 with a .305 OPS over his first 13 games of the season.

“I think yesterday, the last two at-bats were good. There was conviction behind it,” Cora said.

He also shared his message to Grissom, the youngest player on the active roster, over the weekend.

“You will play, regardless of the 0-for-4, 0-for-8, you will play. Kind of like, relax. Do what you do, get hits, find ways to get hits,” he relayed. “He can hit the ball the other way with the best of them, so just gotta make sure we slow it down, helping him out in the cage and working before the game.”

Red Sox lineup (May 20)

Jarren Duran CF

Wilyer Abreu RF

Tyler O’Neill LF

Rafael Devers 3B

Connor Wong DH

Dom Smith 1B

David Hamilton 2B

Reese McGuire C

Ceddanne Rafaela SS

Rays lineup (May 20)

Yandy Díaz 1B

Josh Lowe RF

Isaac Paredes 3B

Brandon Lowe 2B

Jonathan Aranda DH

Jonny DeLuca CF

Richie Palacios LF

Jose Caballero SS

Ben Rortvedt C

Red Sox vs. Rays probable starting pitchers

RHP Tanner Houck vs. RHP Taj Bradley

How to watch Red Sox vs. Rays

When: 6:50 p.m. ET

Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg FL

TV: NESN, Bally Sports Sun

Red Sox radio: WEEI 93.7 FM, WCCM 1490 AM (Spanish)

Rays radio: WDAE 620 AM/95.3 FM, WQBN/1300 AM

Red Sox injury updates

The Red Sox will provide an update on Garrett Whitlock (elbow soreness) after Monday night’s game against the Rays, Cora said.

Bryan Mata (hamstring) will throw three innings in his next rehab outing with Double-A Portland. The Red Sox are stretching him out, but Cora said they don’t plan to use him as a starter.

Rays injury updates

Ahead of Monday’s series opener with the Red Sox, the Rays placed starting pitcher Zach Eflin on the 15-day injured list retroactive to Sunday, May 19, with lower back inflammation.

In his place, the club activated Brandon Lowe from the 10-day IL. After being sidelined for nearly six weeks with an oblique strain, Lowe is back in the Rays lineup on Monday night and playing second base.

The Rays also optioned reliever Manuel Rodríguez to Triple-A Durham to clear a roster spot for Richard Lovelady, whom they acquired from the Chicago Cubs over the weekend.

May 20 in baseball history

1871: Mort Rogers starts selling scorecards with the likenesses of Boston Red Stockings players at the team’s games. The idea will eventually evolve into the tobacco card, and later, the modern baseball card.

1918: Red Sox pitcher Carl Mays hits Cleveland Indians outfielder Tris Speaker in the head with a pitch. As a member of the New York Yankees two years later, the submariner will throw the pitch that kills young Cleveland infielder Ray Chapman, the only in-game fatality in MLB history. The tragedy will prompt the league to implement a series of new rules, including the mandate that the balls must be replaced in-game if they become dirtied or scuffed, and usher in the Live Ball Era.

1919: Babe Ruth hits his first of 16 career grand slams.

2006: In the pre-Universal DH era of interleague play, Josh Beckett hits a solo home run and an RBI single while pitching seven innings to propel the Red Sox to an 8-4 victory over the Phillies in Philadelphia. He’s the first Red Sox pitcher to homer since Marty Pattin on September 26, 1972.

2009: Jacoby Ellsbury ties the MLB record when he makes his 12th putout in the outfield. His 11th putout set the franchise record. David Ortiz also ends the longest homer drought of his career, a 39-game stretch dating back to the previous Sept. 22.

2011: In their first game at Fenway Park since the 1918 World Series, the Chicago Cubs lose to the Red Sox 15-5.

(Sources: Baseball-Reference, SABR, Nationalpastime.com)