Red Sox at Rangers
New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is already running away with the American League Rookie of the Year Award, but Andrew Benintendi is still bidding to make it a two-man race. The rookie sensation will try to lead the Boston Red Sox to a three-game sweep when they visit the Texas Rangers in the series finale on Wednesday.
Benintendi certainly looks like a Rookie of the Year and MVP candidate to the Rangers, who watched him knock in the go-ahead runs in Monday's 7-5 Red Sox win and then saw him go 5-for-5 with two home runs, six RBIs and four runs scored in Tuesday's 11-4 drubbing. Benintendi is up to 12 homers and 50 RBIs on the season while batting .288 and he showed off his defensive prowess in left field with a leaping catch against the wall in Tuesday's win - Boston's sixth straight and eighth in the last nine games. Benintendi is 1-for-2 with a single and a walk in his brief career against Texas right-hander Andrew Cashner, who goes up against Red Sox righty Doug Fister on Wednesday. The Rangers are losers of three straight and six of their last seven and watched the pitching staff allow at least five runs in each of those six setbacks.
TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), FSN Southwest (Texas)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Red Sox RH Doug Fister (0-1, 4.91 ERA) vs. Rangers RH Andrew Cashner (3-7, 3.87)
Fister was solid in each of his first two starts after being picked up by Boston but is still looking for his first win. The California native yielded only four hits at Toronto on Friday but also walked three and was charged with three runs in five innings without factoring in the decision. Fister spent last season with Houston in the AL West and made five starts against Texas, posting a 1-2 record with a 4.73 ERA.
Cashner spent two weeks on the disabled list with an oblique injury only to return on Thursday at Cleveland and get hit on the right elbow by a broken bat. The 30-year-old was diagnosed with just a bruise and ended up charged with five runs and six hits in five-plus innings to suffer a loss. Cashner was not at his best in Boston on May 23, when he issued a season-high four walks and allowed five runs and six hits in five frames.
WALK-OFFS
1. Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre became the 17th player in MLB history to reach 600 career doubles on Monday.
2. Texas 1B Mike Napoli homered in each of the last four games.
3. In the fan vote for the final AL All-Star spot, which closes Thursday afternoon, Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts sits second behind Kansas City's Mike Moustakas while Texas SS Elvis Andrus ranks fourth.