Red Sox at Phillies
Chris Sale looks to continue his successful ways as the visiting Boston Red Sox vie for a sweep of the floundering Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday in the finale of a four-game, home-and-home interleague series at Citizens Bank Park. Sale owns a scintillating 7-0 mark in his last eight outings, although he inexplicably allowed six runs in four innings to take the loss in his lone career encounter with Philadelphia last September.
While Sale looks for another strong start this season, Boston's relievers have been holding up their end of the bargain by running their scoreless innings streak to 21 1/3 after working 6 1/3 frames in Wednesday's 7-3 victory. Mookie Betts recorded his eighth career multi-homer performance by going deep twice to highlight a four-hit night to improve to 8-for-16 with four RBIs and five runs scored in the series. While the Red Sox have won 16 of their last 23 overall and seven straight encounters against Philadelphia, the latter has seen its season-high losing skid reach eight games and is 0-8 in interleague play. Howie Kendrick has hit safely in 11 of 14 contests since coming off the disabled list, but is just 2-for-11 in his career versus Sale.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, NESN (Boston), CSN Philadelphia
PITCHING MATCHUP: Red Sox LH Chris Sale (8-2, 2.97 ERA) vs. Phillies RH Nick Pivetta (1-3, 5.52)
Sale won his fourth straight start on Saturday after allowing three runs and striking out seven in seven innings of an 11-3 victory versus Detroit. The 28-year-old permitted nine hits in that contest and 25 over his last three trips to the mound. While Sale continues to rack up victories, he has failed to record double-digit strikeout totals in four straight outings after doing so in each of his previous eight.
Pivetta's growing pains continued on Saturday as he yielded four runs on as many hits and walks in five innings of a 7-0 setback at St. Louis. The 24-year-old has yet to work more than five innings in six starts this season, although his 15 walks in his last four games have aided in driving up his pitch count. As for a positive, Pivetta has kept the ball in the park in his last three contests after serving up five homers in his previous three.
WALK-OFFS
1. Boston CF Jackie Bradley Jr. is 10-for-23 with one homer, three RBIs and five runs scored during his six-game hitting streak.
2. Philadelphia 1B Tommy Joseph is batting .366 during his 10-game hitting streak.
3. Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts is 5-for-10 in his last two games after going 0-for-10 with five strikeouts in his previous two.