The Boston Red Sox begin a five-game road swing as they renew pleasantries with the New York Yankees in a two-game series at Yankee Stadium. Boston has just been so-so over the last week, sporting a record of 4-3, while New York has been downright bad, dropping five of its last six. Chris Sale (BOS) and James Paxton (NYY) take the mound with the Red Sox Sportsbook as a slight -114 favorite and the Yanks coming back at -106. The total opened at 8.5 runs.
Red Sox vs Yankees Game Center
Standout Stats
- Boston hasn’t had much success Sportsbook defense of its World Series title as it has stumbled out of the gate to a record of 6-11 SU and 3-14 ATS, but more recently it has gone 4-3. Similarly, New York has been dealing with injuries and that has led to its poor record of 6-9 SU and 7-8 ATS in its Sportsbook 15 contests.
- The pitching has been bad for the Red Sox this year and that has led to the OVER hitting in 10 of their 17 games this season. Meanwhile, New York is near the middle of the pack offensively and defensively and it has gone OVER in eight of its 15 games. The average combined score for Boston games has been 10.59, while New York’s average combined score has been 9.07.
- It has been an uphill battle for Chris Sale through his first three trips to the mound in 2019. The lefty sports a record of 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA while only striking out eight batters over 13 innings thus far. He has shut the Yankees batters down in his career as they have had 167 at-bats vs the 30-year-old and hit just .186 off him. Sale went 2-0 with a remarkable 0.69 ERA in two appearances vs New York last season.
- James Paxton counters for the Yankees looking to put in a performance like he had in his season debut. The Canadian has been roughed up for nine runs on 16 hits over 9.1 innings in his last two starts, winning one and losing the other. In his first start, though, he tossed 5.2 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits. On the season the lefty is 1-2 with a 6.00 ERA and has struck out 19 batters. The Red Sox lineup has had success vs Paxton, holding a .293 batting average in 75 combined at-bats. He was torched for six earned runs on 2.1 innings in his lone start vs Boston last year.
- This is just the second time this season that New York has faced a left-handed starter and it lost the first game, while Boston is 2-3 vs southpaw starters. Additionally, the Yankees rank 28th in the majors with a .196 batting average vs lefties and the Red Sox rank ninth with a .273 average vs LHP.
My Best Bet for Boston vs New York
OVER 8.5
Neither pitcher has gotten off on the right foot to start the 2019 campaign and I anticipate their struggles to continue tonight. The Boston bats got on James Paxton when they faced him last season and they have the ninth-best batting average vs LHP this year. Meanwhile, Chris Sale has a WHIP of 1.54 through three starts and if you let the Yankees get their bats going, it could be a long day.
