Red Sox Look to Rebound Against Rays
After last night’s tough 8-5 loss and home sweep against the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox are officially under .500 for the first time all year. They have lost 8 of their last 12 games and in those games, when the offense has been hot, the pitching hasn’t been and surprisingly sometimes even vice versa.
At 12-13 and 4th place in the AL East, the Red Sox are definitely no where near out of it, but could come close if they don’t turn their ship around. The AL East is extremely tight right now and one little stretch of struggles could put any team in a hole that could be too difficult to dig out of.
The early season luck seems to be catching up to the Sox who won many games in April due to errors made by the other team, most noticeable during the Washington Nationals series at Fenway Park early in April in which it seemed like a normal fly out to the right fielder became an automatic double.
This series vs. the Tampa Bay Rays is much more important than people may think.
May 3, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval (48) hits an RBI single the sixth inning against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
The Rays and Orioles are only a game ahead of the Sox in the standings, meaning if the Sox were to take 2 of 3, they would at least leap frog the Rays and possibly even the O’s. For the Rays to at least win the series, it would help boost their positioning in the standings and help create a much more legitimate team image and not just a “hot team that will be out of the playoff race by July”.
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For the Red Sox pitching staff, they have Clay Buchholz going tonight, Rick Porcello tomorrow and Justin Masterson on Wednesday. Both Porcello and Masterson are coming off solid outings in which Porcello went 7 innings and Masterson went 6. For them, they’re coming off of starts that gave them confidence and are looking to continue it.
For Buchholz, his last start was atrocious: 2.2 innings pitched and 4 earned runs allowed. Tonight will be very interesting on how he handles things after such a bad previous start. Buchholz faced the Rays on April 23rd in Tampa Bay, giving up 1 earned run on 2 hits in 6 innings of work. This time, it’s at Fenway.
This is a perfect time for Buchholz to regain some confidence to help him find his groove again. Especially against the Rays.
On the offensive side of things, out of the 3 times the Sox have played the Rays, they’ve scored 5 runs in one game and then haven’t scored more than 1 in the other two.
Tonight, they face off against Jake Odorizzi who in his career, has held the Red Sox to a .189 batting average. To win tonight, they’re numbers will have to be a lot better. In Tomorrow’s game, the Rays starter Drew Smyly has not been great against the Red Sox. The Sox combined average against him is. 245 so that’s a game the Red Sox should score some runs in. Alex Colome starts game 3, however he does not have any stats against the Red Sox.
This is a series of importance for the Red Sox in that it’s one to not only help them get back on track, but also to gain momentum in the tightly packed AL East.