Leaders of their respective divisions, the Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros will engage each other in a marquee four-game series at Minute Maid Park beginning this Thursday. Read on for a preview of each of those games below.
Starters: Drew Pomeranz (1-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. Lance McCullers Jr. (6-3, 3.98 ERA)
Pitching:
Drew Pomeranz was rocked in his last start, as he lasted just 3.1 innings after allowing five earned runs on six hits but was rescued by the Red Sox’s offense in an 8-6 home win over the Braves on May 26. He has allowed a total of 12 runs across 11.1 innings of action in his last three starts. Lance McCullers did not have a great outing either the last time he was seen on the field, as he allowed seven earned runs on six hits in just 4.1 innings of an 8-6 road loss to Cleveland on May 26. He is 0-1 with a 6.16 ERA in four career starts against Boston.
Hitting:
Jose Altuve is 7-for-17 against Pomeranz
Mookie Betts is 4-for-12 vs. McCullers
Writer’s Prediction:
Houston wins, 5-3.
Game 2 Friday, June 1, 8:10PM EST
Starters: Chris Sale (5-2, 2.76 ERA) vs. Gerrit Cole (5-1, 2.05 ERA)
Pitching:
What a pitching matchup this is going to be. That despite the fact that Chris Sale is coming off a bad outing in his last start in which he gave up six earned runs on five hits in 4.1 innings of a 7-1 loss at home against Atlanta. Cole did not impress that much also in his previous start, giving up three earned runs on four hits in seven innings of a high-scoring 10-9 road loss to the Indians. Cole and Sale are No. 1 and No. 2 in strikeouts in the American League with 109 and 104, respectively.
Hitting:
Jose Altuve is 8-for-21 with a double and homer against Sale.
The Red Sox have a collective .275 batting average against Cole.
Writer’s Prediction:
Houston wins, 4-3.
Game 3 Saturday, June 2, 7:15PM EST
Starters: David Price (5-4, 4.04 ERA) vs. Justin Verlander (7-2, 1.11 ERA)
Pitching:
Two former Detroit Tigers hurlers are set for a duel this Saturday. David Price has been locked in of late, as he’s gone 3-0 with a 2.51 ERA over his last four starts. He allowed just two earned runs on four hits in five innings of an 8-3 home win over Toronto on May 28. Justin Verlander, meanwhile, has just been insane so far this season as his game logs is looking like a binary code full of 1s and 0s. Verlander has not allowed more than two earned runs in 11 of his 12 starts this season despite leading the AL in innings pitched. He also tops the league in ERA and WHIP (0.71).
Hitting:
Brian McCann is 11-for-32 against Price.
Mitch Moreland is 10-for-26 with six doubles vs. Verlander.
Writer’s Prediction:
Houston wins, 3-2.
Game 4 Sunday, June 3, 7:38PM EST
Starters: Rick Porcello (7-2, 3.65 ERA) vs. Charlie Morton (7-0, 2.26 ERA)
Pitching:
After allowing 12 earned runs in three straight starts, Rick Porcello recovered with a steady performance on May 29, allowing two earned runs on five hits in 6.2 innings of an 8-3 home win over Toronto. He is 3-1 with a 3.8 ERA in six road starts this year. Charlie Morton is fresh off picking up a no-decision in a 6-5 setback at the hands of New York in Gotham where he surrendered three earned runs on eight hits. He did strike out 10 batters, however, for his second double-digit strikeout outing in four starts. He has nine quality starts in his past 11 starts.
Hitting:
The Astros have a collective batting average of .299 against Porcello.
The Red Sox have a group batting average of .226 against Morton.
Writer’s Prediction:
Houston wins, 4-3.
Writer’s Overall Series Prediction
Houston sweeps this regular season series against the Red Sox.
