Red Sox at Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays have a chance to take three of four from the visiting Boston Red Sox and match their high-water mark of the season when the American League East rivals complete their four-game series on Sunday afternoon. The Rays received a masterful pitching performance from Alex Cobb on Saturday before holding on for a 1-0 victory and can move four games over .500 with a win in the final contest before the All-Star break.
Tampa Bay leadoff batter Mallex Smith recorded a pair of hits Saturday to extend his hitting streak to seven games (12-for-29) and teammate Brad Miller is 3-for-5 with two walks since returning from a month-long stint on the disabled list. Rays All-Star Chris Archer will try to match Cobb’s effort on Sunday despite a 2-11 lifetime record against the Red Sox and faces his former mentor David Price, who won the AL Cy Young with Tampa Bay in 2012. Boston leads the New York Yankees by 3 ½ games and the third-place Rays by 4 ½ after dropping three of its last four contests, managing just three hits in Saturday’s setback. Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts (hand) returned to the lineup Saturday after a one-game absence and went 1-for-3.
TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston) FSN Sun (Tampa Bay)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Red Sox LH David Price (4-2, 4.02 ERA) vs. Rays RH Chris Archer (7-5, 3.95)
Price struck out a season-high nine while allowing six hits over six scoreless innings Tuesday at Texas for his third win in four starts. The 31-year-old Vanderbilt product, who owns a 2.88 career ERA at Tropicana Field, has given up three or fewer runs in seven of his eight starts in 2017. Trevor Plouffe is 9-for-25 with two doubles versus Price, who is 3-3 with a 4.20 ERA in seven career games against Tampa Bay.
Archer has completed exactly six innings in five straight starts after permitting three runs to beat the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday and improving to 3-1 in that stretch. The 28-year-old, who was added to the All-Star team Friday, is second in the AL with 139 strikeouts over 116 1/3 innings. Mookie Betts is 10-for-26 against Archer, who limited the Red Sox to one run, six hits and two walks over 5 2/3 innings in a win on April 14.
WALK-OFFS
1. Boston OF Andrew Benintendi has reached base in a career-high 17 straight games after receiving an intentional walk in the ninth inning Saturday.
2. Tampa Bay All-Star OF/DH Corey Dickerson is 3-for-31 with 12 strikeouts in his last nine contests.
3. Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia owns multiple hits in four of his last seven games but went 0-for-4 on Saturday.