After nearly two weeks – and a rough 1-5 road trip to the Dodgers and Rockies – the Red Sox are back at Fenway Park for their first homestand of the second half.
The Red Sox have been one of baseball’s best teams for the last two months. Their 32-23 record since May 19 ranks third in the Majors and second in the American League.
Friday, however, marks the beginning of a tough stretch. The Red Sox will host the New York Yankees for three games over the weekend, then begin a three-game set with the Seattle Mariners on Monday.
Boston has won both of their two series against their rivals this season, but the lineup has struggled against left-handers, and the Yankees are putting a southpaw on the mound for Friday’s and Sunday’s contests. The Red Sox are a top-four team in the Majors with a .260 batting average (2nd), .442 slugging percentage (3rd) and .765 OPS (4th). Against lefties, however, they’re hitting .249 (14th), and slugging .403 (14th) with a .728 OPS (13th).
The Yankees currently hold the first AL Wild Card, the Red Sox have fallen to one game out of the third. It’s a vastly different situation than when the Yankees arrived in Boston for the first rivalry series of the season on June 13, boasting an MLB-best 49-21 record. At the time, New York was two and a half games up on the Baltimore Orioles and 14 games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East standings; the Red Sox are now six and a half games out of first. Since June 13, the Red Sox’s 20-13 record is the best in the division, while the Yankees have gone 11-23; the second-worst mark in MLB. Only the Chicago White Sox (10-26), who are 50 games under .500, have fared worse; they’re the first team since the ’62 Mets to lose 77 of their first 104 games, and are on pace to match the Mets’ 120 losses that year, a modern MLB record.
It’s also the last time the Yankees will be at Fenway Park this year. In the regular season, that is…
Jarren Duran CF
Rob Refsnyder LF
Connor Wong C
Rafael Devers 3B
Tyler O’Neill RF
Masataka Yoshida DH
Romy Gonzalez 1B
Ceddanne Rafaela SS
Jamie Westbrook 2B
Check back later for Yankees lineup
LHP Nestor Cortes vs. RHP Brayan Bello
Brayan Bello owns a 5.27 ERA and 1.44 WHIP over 18 starts this season, with 92 strikeouts and 34 walks issued over 95.2 innings. Over six career games (all starts) totaling 35.2 innings against the Yankees, he’s posted a 2.27 ERA. The Bronx bombers hit him hard on June 14, though, sending him on his way after 4.2 innings, charged with five runs, four earned, on six hits, three walks, and five strikeouts.
When: 7:10 p.m. ET
Where: Fenway Park
TV (Blackout restrictions may apply): NESN, YES
Red Sox radio: WEEI 93.7 FM, WCCM 1490 AM (Spanish)
Yankees radio: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280
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