This should be a good one. Tonight, the Red Sox (39-18) square off against the Astros (36-22) in Houston (8:10 p.m., NESN, MLBN out-of-market), but the big story is the pitching matchup of Chris Sale (5-2, 2.76 ERA), coming off a bad start, vs. Gerrit Cole (5-1, 2.05 ERA), who doesn’t have them.

About tonight’s game: You are going to see some absolute ass-kickers at the top of their games tonight. Sale, no matter how he’s pitching, is still Sale, and Cole has found salvation for Houston, with his closest Cy Young competition coming from inside his own rotation, in Justin Verlander. He’ll be the latest opposing pitcher to avoid Mookie Betts, whose continued absence due to a side issue is... troubling. Dustin Pedroia’s out again to. There’s not much else to report, though. It’s all about the pitchers, who are G’s.

About last night’s game: Drew Pomeranz started, Betts and Pedroia did not and the Sox lost 4-2. Read Matt’s recap here.

Forecast: Heat. Because it’s going to be 95 degrees. Also: the fastballs.

Today’s reading: Evan Drellich fears the end of the knuckleballer in baseball. I believe there another will reveal oneself, but there’s always a danger they disappear from time to time.

A good tweet from yesterday:

LINEUPS