Odds Flip Favors Boston at Home Over Cole, Yankees

The Boston Red Sox are 9-2 in their last 11 games against the New York Yankees, including a 5-4 win in Thursday’s series opener. The Red Sox will try to earn another win over the Yankees on Friday night in Beantown.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The Yankees opened as -109 road favorites, but betting action on the Red Sox flipped the line and made Boston a -116 favorite at home. New York is now going off at +106 while the total has remained steady at 8.5 runs. The UNDER is 5-2 in Boston’s last seven games against New York.

Starting Pitchers Analysis

Gerrit Cole pitched all six innings of a rain-shortened game against the Red Sox last Saturday, allowing five hits and one earned run while striking out 11 in New York’s 3-1 win. Cole is 10-4 with a 2.63 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP this season, and he also leads the major leagues with 158 strikeouts. The right-hander has a 0.60 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP over his last two starts.

Eduardo Rodriguez allowed only two hits across 5.2 scoreless innings and struck out eight batters in Boston’s 4-0 win over the Yankees last Friday. Rodriguez owns a 5.19 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP this season but has led Boston to wins in seven of his last eight starts. The 28-year-old has a 2.65 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP in three starts against the Yankees this year that all ended in Boston wins.

New York News & Notes

The Yankees were three outs away from extending their winning streak to five games as they entered the bottom of the ninth up 3-1 on Thursday night. But with Aroldis Chapman getting the night off after appearing in back-to-back games Thursday and Friday, Chad Green entered the game to get the final three outs and instead allowed three hits and two runs. Boston went on to win the game 5-4 in extra innings.

New York has played well over the last week with a 4-1 record over its last five games despite a slew of injuries and COVID-related absences including Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela and Kyle Higashioka. Higashioka’s presence will be missed Friday as the 31-year-old is the preferred catcher of Yankees ace Gerrit Cole. Gary Sanchez will be behind the plate with Higashioka still out.

Boston News & Notes

Boston extended its current winning streak to three games with its victory over the Yankees on Thursday night. The streak has come with a welcome turnaround for the offense; after scoring only 2.4 runs per game across a 1-4 slump in their previous five games, the Red Sox have racked up 8.33 runs per game over their last three outings.

J.D. Martinez has gone 7-for-13 with four runs, a home run and an RBI over this three-game stretch. Martinez has been enjoying a nice bounce-back season with a .305 batting average, 66 runs, 20 home runs and 64 RBIs in 2021 after batting just .213 with seven homers in 54 games last season.

Betting Pick: Boston -116