Boston’s losing woes show no sign of abating as the Red Sox suffered a disappointing 7-4 defeat to Milwaukee on Wednesday night. It was the second consecutive loss for the eight-time world champions who dropped down to 17-16 in the AL East standings.
With the Red Sox struggling mightily right now, the pressure is on Eduardo Rodriguez (1-1, 3.07 ERA) to deliver a solid start for Boston today. He allowed three runs over six-plus innings with six strikeouts in a no-decision Friday against the Minnesota Twins. The Red Sox lost that ballgame, 4-3. The lefty has the second-best ERA among Red Sox starters, and he’s struck out at least a batter per inning in each of his past three outings. For the season, Rodriguez has struck out 37 batters over 29.1 innings.
Rodriguez can’t do it all alone, though, and he needs the Red Sox hitters to contribute on the offensive end as well today. Expected to lead Boston in that department are Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts. Benintendi is 10-of-29 in his last seven games with two homers and seven RBIs. Betts, on the other hand, is 10-of-31 in his last seven games with a pair of homers and seven RBIs. He went 1-of-4 last night against the Brewers.
The Red Sox are 4-6 in their last 10 road games. They are pegged at +350to win the American League pennant this year.
Eric Thames and Keon Broxton just can’t be stopped right now. They both delivered a pair of hits Wednesday in Milwaukee’s 7-4 win against Boston. Thames has been on fire of late, going 9-of-29 in his last seven games with two homers and six RBIs. He leads the majors in homers this season with 13. Broxton has put up some spectacular numbers as well during this span, batting .423 (11-of-26) with two homers and six RBIs.
That production will be music to the ears of starting pitcher Jimmy Nelson who has now gone four outings without a quality start. The right-hander needed only 30 pitches to toss three hitless innings Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but a 2-hour, 27-minute rain delay ended his start prematurely. That performance was quite encouraging for Nelson who had surrendered a whopping 16 runs in his previous three starts.
The Brewers are 6-2 in their last eight home games. They are pegged at +7,500to win the National League pennant this year.
