This Sunday the (75-82) Boston Red Sox and the (88-69) Toronto Blue Jays will play the final game of this three-game series. The first pitch will be thrown out at 1:37 PM EST inside the Rogers Centre. The last time that these two teams matched up, the Blue Jays ended up sweeping the Red Sox.
The Boston Red Sox are coming into this one after winning their previous series against the Baltimore Orioles. Boston took three of four games, as they looked great at the dish. They scored 21 combined runs in their three wins.
The Toronto Blue Jays are entering this one after losing their previous series to the New York Yankees. The Blue Jays struggled at the plate in games two and three, as they only scored five combined runs in their two losses. They will have to warm up at the plate if they want to take care of business at home.
This game was written/published before last night' ;s results.
The Boston Red Sox are 3-7 in their last 10 games played, as they have continued to fall out of the AL Wild Card race. They are now 11 games back from the Tampa Bay Rays for the third and final AL Wild Card spot. Boston is also stuck in dead last place in the AL East, as they trial the first-place New York Yankees by 21.5 games.
At the plate, the Red Sox are scoring 4.63 runs per game and they are hitting .258 as a team. This is the eighth most runs per game and the second-highest overall team batting average. They have shown that they can consistently reach base safely and they have also been great with men in scoring position. Boston has also realized that they don't have as much power inside of their lineup as they originally thought. They are only averaging .98 home runs per game, which is the 20th most in the MLB. I would watch for Rafael Devers at the plate, as he leads the team with 27 bombs this season. I would also expect the Red Sox to stay unaggressive once they have reached base safely. They have only swiped 51 bases this season, which is the 26th most in the league.
According to MLB.com, the Red Sox will be starting Michael Wacha on the mound, as he is 11-1 this season with a 3.06 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. In his last start, he pitched for 3.1 innings but gave up six earned runs to the Orioles. He is also 6-0 on the road this season with a 3.46 ERA. The Red Sox bullpen hasn't been as solid, though. They are surrendering the 25th most runs per game. As a team, Boston is surrendering 4.95 runs per game, which is the 25th most in the MLB this season.