Boston Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays Series 4 Preview

The Boston Red Sox will continue their road trip, this time heading to Tampa Bay for a four-game series against the team with the best record in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays. The first three games of this series (Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday) will start at 6:40 PM. The final game of the series on Thursday will begin at 1:10 PM.

Red Sox Projected Starting Pitchers:

Game 1: Nick Pivetta (0-1 1.80 ERA)

Pivetta is making his second start of the season and is coming off a game he pitched well in. Pivetta may have been the only Red Sox starter that had a solid start the first time through the rotation, pitching five innings while giving up just three runs, all of which came off home runs which he gave up two; he would walk three and strike out six. In his career against Tampa Bay, Pivetta has struggled. During his eight starts, he’s posted a 1-5 record going 31 innings but allowing 22 earned runs.

Game 2: Garrett Whitlock (4-2 3.45 ERA ’22)

Whitlock will make his first start of the season for the Red Sox after returning from an injury. Whitlock started for Worcester on their Opening Day on a rehab assignment where he would pitch four innings giving up one run on six hits while walking one and striking out six. He would also make a rehab start in Portland for their Opening Day, going six innings, giving up one hit and one run while walking one and striking out eight. In his career against Tampa Bay, Whitlock has five appearances with one start. He is 1-0 and has one save against the Rays. Whitlock has given up a total of four earned runs and has struck out 14 Rays hitters.

Game 3: Chris Sale (1-0 11.25 ERA)

Chris Sale made his second start of the season against the Tigers and pitched better than his first start. Sale had gotten himself into a few jams early against Detroit, but as the game progressed, he settled down, going five innings allowing three runs on four hits while walking three and striking out seven. In his career against Tampa, Sale has made 21 starts posting a 10-6 record, pitching 134.2 innings in those starts striking out 191 Tampa Bay hitters.

Game 4: Corey Kluber (0-2 6.48 ERA)

Kluber pitched better in his second start against the Pirates, going five innings allowing three hits and giving up he just one run; he would walk two and strike out seven. The Red Sox bats went cold and couldn’t help out with Kluber’s performance as he took the loss. Kluber is pitching against his former team, the Rays, as he played for them last season, going 10-10 with a 4.34 ERA and 139 punch-outs. In his career against Tampa Bay, Kluber is 5-3 pitching 66.1 innings allowing 22 runs, and striking out 82 Rays hitters.

Player To Watch

Masataka Yoshida (.233/1/6)

This will be Yoshida’s first matchup against the Rays in his career. Yoshida has had a nice start to his season with the Red Sox after having a dominating World Baseball Classic. He will look to help the Red Sox claim a series win against the Rays.

Prediction:

The Red Sox come into this one off a sweep over the Detroit Tigers. This will be a tough series for the Red Sox, but they will get one of their starting pitchers back for this series. Last year the Red Sox were 7-12 against Tampa Bay, and they won two of the six series against Tampa. In this series, I predict the Red Sox will split this series, with Tampa taking two of the four games.