The Red Sox can only hope to avoid the sweep Wednesday night as they tab their revitalized ace to play stopper in the second half of their day - night doubleheader.
The offense has certainly fallen off from the heights of the homestand, with just two runs in the first half. They'll have to make do without Dustin Pedroia now, with Rutledge once again finding himself in the order. Of course, the Red Sox would hope that David Price could provide them the sort of start where even the game one offense would be enough. He went 6.2 innings against the Astros, allowing just one run last week while striking out 12, with his delivery changes apparently paying off in a big way.
Now they need him to come up big where he generally hasn't this year, when the team has needed him most. The Red Sox' record isn't going to look bad anytime soon no matter how things go, but a sweep right after the heady days against Houston and Oakland would be awfully demoralizing indeed. The Red Sox need Price to carry the way at least to the point where the back-end of the bullpen can take over, and show Kansas City they're not the only unit that can shorten the game.
First pitch is at 8:10 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.