After taking Game 1 in the best-of-five American League Division Series, the Tampa Bay Rays are looking to push the Boston Red Sox to the brink of elimination in Game 2. Let’s take a look.
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How to watch
Date: Friday, Oct. 8 | Time: 7:02 p.m. ET
Location: Tropicana Field (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
TV: FS1 | Stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
Odds: TBD
Starting pitchers: Chris Sale vs. Shane Baz
Preview
The pitching matchup is a hilarious contrast in experience. On the Red Sox side, it’s Chris Sale, the 32-year-old veteran with seven All-Star Games, 321 career regular-season appearances and seven career playoff appearances. Baz is a 22-year-old rookie with three career starts.
Baz pitched to a 2.03 ERA in his three starts and the Rays have such an incredibly deep bullpen that has only thrown four innings since Sunday. The Red Sox haven’t seen him and that’s generally advantageous to the pitcher, though it’s obviously not a hard-and-fast rule. J.D. Martinez is still recovering from his ankle injury and Rafael Devers appears to be compromised as well.
Sale returned from Tommy John surgery to make nine starts this season, pitching to a 3.16 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. He struggled late, though, posting a 5.87 ERA in his last two starts, which came against two last-place teams in the Orioles and Nationals. He faced the Rays twice this season, giving up seven runs (only three earned) on 16 hits in 9 2/3 innings. Nelson Cruz is 12 for 35 (.343) with two homers against Sale in his career. Yandy Diaz and Kevin Kiermaier have had good success as well. Mike Zunino is 0 for 14 with eight strikeouts.
Prediction
The Rays are the much better team and the Red Sox are dealing with banged-up sluggers.
Pick: Rays 4, Red Sox 2
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