The Red Sox will try to salvage at least one win from a series against the Tigers that has not gone at all according to plan.
While the Sox seemed to have found their rhythm after winning six of eight games against the Athletics, Reds, and Rangers, they stumbled on a trip to Minnesota, and now are one loss away from falling to three games under .500--a figure that would match their season-worst.
Unfortunately, to avoid that they'll have to win arguably their worst pitching matchup of the series: Anibal Sanchez vs. Jake Peavy. While Peavy's ERA is still under 4.00 even after his disaster outing against the Twins, there's little reason to expect that to stay so low while Peavy is walking batters and giving up home runs. in a way, he's like an untenable version of Anibal Sanchez, who is walking 4.3 batters per nine innings so far this season, but has done so while striking out plenty and giving up not a single long ball to date.
Add in the fact that Boston's lineup has looked completely incapable of breaking through against the strong pitching offered up by the Tigers these last two games, and there's just not much reason for optimism.
First pitch is at 8:05 p.m. with broadcasts on ESPN and WEEI.