Boston will play the second game of its four-game series at Kansas City on Friday night. The Red Sox entered the series having won three of their last four games, while the Royals were coming off consecutive losses to the White Sox. This story was published prior to Thursday’s series opener between these teams.
Boston has been one of the most confusing teams in baseball this season. The Red Sox got off to an excellent start before going on one of the longest cold stretches of any team in the majors. Their struggles carried over after the All-Star break, as they lost seven of their first nine games to open the second half of the season. They were finally able to bounce back earlier this week, winning three straight games before falling to Houston in a series finale on Wednesday. Boston is in last place in the American League East, but it is only three games back of the final AL Wild Card spot.
The #RedSox today released OF Jackie Bradley Jr.
— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 4, 2022
The Red Sox rely on an offense that ranks sixth in the majors with a batting average of .252. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts leads the way with 116 hits and a .312 average, while third baseman Rafael Devers has 115 hits, including a team-high 23 home runs. They will be facing a Kansas City pitching staff that is No. 27 with an ERA of 4.70. Boston has not officially announced its starting pitcher for Friday’s game, but rookie right-hander Josh Winckowski is the most likely candidate. He allowed two runs on seven hits and a walk across five innings against Milwaukee in his last start. Winckowski had allowed 14 runs over his previous three starts, so he was able to lower his season ERA from 5.18 to 5.00 on Sunday.