The Boston Red Sox (9-10, 5th AL East) play the opening game of a three-game series on the road at American Family Field in Milwaukee on Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers (14-5, 1st NL Central). Boston was defeated by the Minnesota Twins 10-4 on Wednesday. The Red Sox complete that series on Thursday before heading off to Brew Town. Milwaukee defeated the Seattle Mariners 5-3 on Wednesday completing a three-game sweep of the Mariners and the Brewers have won four straight, increasing their lead at the top of the National League Central to two games. Boston will play without five pitchers as well as position players Yu Chang, Adam Duvall, Adalberto Mondesi and Trevor Story. Milwaukee will play without seven pitchers as well as position players Garrett Mitchel l, Tyrone Taylor and Luis Urias.
The Boston Red Sox have a team ERA of 5.20 which is 25th and baseball and a 1.36 WHIP which is 19th. In 19 games, Boston's starting rotation has just two Quality Starts which is 28th in baseball while the pitching staff is allowing opposing hitters to average .254 which is 20th. Chris Sale is the leader in strikeouts with 30. Boston will hand the ball to Nick Pivetta on Friday. This season the right hander is 0-1 with an ERA of 4.50 and 16 strikeouts. Pivetta is coming off a weak outing in which the right-hander allowed six runs in four innings.
Boston is 17th in team batting average at .240 while improving to 16th in on base percentage with .322 and 13th in slugging percentage at .408. The Red Sox have scored 100 runs which is third best. Rafael Devers is off to a strong start as the third baseman leads Boston with seven home runs and 17 RBI. Adam Devall is second in home runs with four but is on the injured list. Boston has hit 38 doubles, two triples and 22 home runs through the first 19 games of the regular season.