Orioles at Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are enduring their first losing streak of the young season as the offense struggles to keep up with the failures of the starting pitchers. The Red Sox will try to avoid their first three-game slide and first series loss when they host the Baltimore Orioles on Monday in the annual Patriots Day game at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox host the 11:05 a.m. start yearly while the Boston Marathon wraps around the city, ending down the street from Fenway Park. The Orioles have been spoiling the fun all weekend by knocking around Clay Buchholz and Rick Porcello in back-to-back games. Adam Jones matched a career high with five RBIs in Sunday’s 8-3 drubbing to give Baltimore a 2-1 edge in the four-game series. Boston averaged 6.2 runs in its first nine games but has yet to push across more than three against the Orioles. The pitching has gone backwards in the same span, due in part to Jones’ 7-of-10 effort in the last two games.
TV: 11:05 a.m. ET, MLB Network, MASN (Baltimore), NESN (Boston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Orioles LH Wei-Yin Chen (0-0, 4.35 ERA) vs. Red Sox RH Justin Masterson (1-0, 7.59)
Chen failed to make it through the fifth inning in his season debut but followed it up with a quality start against the New York Yankees last Monday, yielding two runs in six frames. Both of the runs came on solo homers, and the Taiwan native has surrendered three blasts in 10 1/3 innings this season. Chen had a losing record against Boston until last season, when he went 3-1 with a 2.92 ERA in four starts against the division rivals.
Masterson is working with diminished velocity early in 2015 but found his way to a win in his season debut thanks to good location and plenty of groundballs. The San Diego State product could not find the same success in his second turn and consistently left the ball over the middle of the plate, leading to seven runs on eight hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings against Washington. Masterson was crushed by Baltimore last season and allowed a total of 10 runs on 15 hits and six walks in 7 2/3 innings spread over two starts.
WALK-OFFS
1. Red Sox LHP Craig Breslow worked three scoreless innings on Sunday and has yet to allow a run in 9 2/3 total frames.
2. Baltimore 3B Jimmy Paredes is 5-for-10 with four runs scored in two games since being recalled.
3. Boston UT Brock Holt went 1-for-5 on Sunday to drop his average to .500.