The Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays look to snap their respective losing skids when they square off later tonight in a marquee showdown at Fenway Park. The Red Sox and the Blue Jays are coming off embarrassing losses to Baltimore and Tampa Bay respectively and both teams will be looking for an improved performance tonight to get their season right back on track.
Read on for a breakdown of this AL East matchup and while you’re at it you can check out our preview of the game between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers here.
[sc:MLBArticles ]Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox Preview
Where: Fenway Park, Boston
When: Monday, April 27, 6:10 PM ET
Line: Toronto Blue Jays (+135) at Boston Red Sox (-150); total: 9.5 – view all MLB lines
Betting on the Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto’s 10-game road trip is off to a horrible start after the Blue Jays got swept by the Tampa Bay Rays in their three-game series on Sunday. The Blue Jays had no answer for Rays right-hander Chris Archer who pitched seven scoreless innings in the 5-1 win. Archer became the first American League pitcher to go four starts within one season without giving up an earned run since Zach Greinke pulled off the feat for Kansas City back in 2009.
[sc:MLB240banner ]The Blue Jays will look to turn their fortunes around when they face the Boston Red Sox later tonight. This will be the first meeting between the two sides this season. The Blue Jays have had plenty of success at Fenway Park last year, winning seven of their nine games there including back-to-back, three-game sweeps.
The Blue Jays will turn the ball tonight to right-hander Aaron Sanchez (1-2, 5.14 ERA). The 22-year-old was solid in his last start for the Blue Jays, allowing two runs and two hits in 5 1/3 innings of action to grab the decision in Toronto’s 4-2 victory over Baltimore on April 22. He will need to do a much better job with his control against the Red Sox, though. He surrendered a whopping seven walks in his last outing against the Orioles.
There’s also some good news for the Blue Jays in terms of the batting department as Jose Bautista is expected to make his return to the lineup in this series. It would be much better for Toronto if he makes the start in the opener. He is 2 for 3 with a home run in his career against Boston starter Joe Kelly.
The Blue Jays are 4-5 on the road this season.
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Betting on the Boston Red Sox
Things are going from bad to worse for the Boston Red Sox as they lost for the fourth time in the last five games with a humiliating 18-7 defeat to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. Pitching has been a problem all season for the Red Sox and it was never more evident than in their loss to the Orioles where they allowed a whopping 20 hits.
It was Boston’s worst outing since a 20-2 loss to Oakland back in August 2012. The Red Sox allowed the Orioles to score six runs twice in an inning. Wade Miley was a disappointment in his fourth start of the season, allowing seven runs in just 2.1 innings against the Orioles on Sunday.
The Red Sox now have the second-highest ERA in the American League at 5.00. Starting pitching has been a primary concern for the Red Sox, though, this season. Prior to their 18-7 blowout loss, the Red Sox starting rotation headed into Sunday’s games with the second-highest earned run average in the majors at 5.35.
To make matters worse for the Red Sox, their batting has been terrible as well this season. The Red Sox are batting just .234 with a .682 OPS, the lowest totals in the American League East. Marquee signing Pablo Sandoval has a batting average of .273 with just a single home run. Fortunately for Boston, Hanley Ramirez is picking up the offensive slack for them. He’s batting .300 for the season with eight home runs and 17 RBIs.
All that offensive brilliance will be for naught, though, if they don’t get a solid pitching performance from their staff. The Red Sox will give the ball tonight to right-hander Joe Kelly (1-0, 4.08 ERA). Kelly is coming off his first loss of the season, a 7-5 defeat to the Tampa Bay Rays on April 22. He allowed five runs on eight hits with one walk in five innings of action against the Rays.
Kelly is 0-1 in his career against the Blue Jays. He was solid, though, in his only meeting against Toronto last year, allowing just two earned runs in six innings of work against the Blue Jays on August 27.
The Red Sox are 4-3 at home this season.
Writer’s Prediction
Boston (-150) wins, 8-4.
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