There was a big question in the mind of baseball fans before the trade deadline: would the Boston Red Sox be buyers or sellers? Now that we are a week past the deadline, the answer is: we still don’t know. They traded away Christian Vazquez because that is what they do with all home-grown talent. On the flip side, they brought in names like Eric Hosmer and Tommy Pham.
Since the deadline, including the final game against Houston, the Red Sox have gone 1 and 6, including dropping 3 of 4 to the obviously-selling-Royals. That makes this weekend’s series against the Yankees that much more critical. Especially if they want any hope of grabbing a wild card spot.
Game 1: Friday August 12th at 7:10 PM EST
In game one of the series, we will see Nathan Eovaldi go up against Domingo German. German is making only his 5th start after shoulder issues at the start of the season. He is just now coming off his second loss of the season. However, that was with only 1 earned run allowed in the first inning of a game the Yankees lost 1-0. The bigger story for the Yankees is the lower run scoring recently, including losing 1-0 to Seattle in 13 innings this week.
Nathan Eovaldi is 5-3 entering this game and has faced the Yankees twice, two no-decisions where he allowed 3 runs. Eovaldi has been harder to predict this year. He shows up for big games like his recent 6.1 innings of no-run pitching against Houston. However, this was right after allowing 9 runs in less than 3 innings against Toronto. The Yankees are familiar with Eovaldi, facing him 17 times in his career. His ERA against New York is 3.89 in those 17 appearances (14 of them starts).
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Game 2: Saturday August 13th at 7:15 PM EST
For game 2 we don’t yet know who will start for the Yankees, although it may be newly acquired Frankie Montas. The Red Sox are projected to have Kutter Crawford on the bump. Montas is 4-9 on the season in 20 appearances. He made his Yankees debut against the Cardinals in a game where he allowed 6 runs in just 3 innings. Montas avoided taking a loss in that one only because the Yankees tied the game later before ultimately losing. The Red Sox have seen Montas already once this season in Oakland. They handed him one of his losses in a game he allowed 4 runs but only 1 earned run. Boston has never scored more than 2 earned runs in a game against Montas in his career. However, he is still 0-2 in 3 starts from 2019 through this season.
Crawford has seen the Yankees 3 times in his rookie season. One being a start in Fenway where he went 5 innings and allowed just 1 run in a no-decision. Crawford’s been a more consistent starter for the Sox recently but he’s coming off one of his shakier starts.
Game 3: Sunday August 14th at 7:08 PM EST
The final game is one ESPN was probably hoping would be a division battle for the postseason at this point. We will likely see Jameson Taillon face off against Michael Wacha. Taillon is 11-2 this season with a 3.95 ERA. He is coming off a win in Seattle where he pitched 7 innings allowing only 3 runs on 3 hits. The Red Sox have seen Taillon twice already this season, where they put up 6 runs against him at Fenway. This was a game the Red Sox ultimately won but Taillon had a no-decision. The Sox also faced Taillon once in New York in a game the Yankees won, where Taillon only allowed 2 hits and 1 run. Boston has never handed Taillon a loss in his 6 appearances against the club in his career, dating back to his days in Pittsburgh.
Michael Wacha will be making his first start since June after being sidelined with shoulder problems. Prior to that he was 6-1 with a 2.69 ERA and was a reliable starter for Boston as well. He has not faced the Yankees yet this season. However, last season with Tampa he allowed just 1 unearned run in 16 total innings pitched.