Red Sox at White Sox lineups: Six in a row? Here we go

The Red Sox can make it six straight victories tonight behind Nick Pivetta as they square off with Dylan Cease and the fightin’ Chicago White Sox (8:10 p.m., NESN).

Pivetta is coming off his best start in a Red Sox uniform, a complete-game two-hitter to shut down the Houston Astros, and he’ll need every bit of that guile to get past a White Sox offense that has struggled at times this year but has talent to spare. The good news is that he’s not riding a one-game streak—he’s been lights out his last three starts, pitching 22 innings and giving up only 2 runs with 20:1 K:BB ratio. That’s exactly what Boston needs to see out of him to have a chance of getting back into the AL East race.

Cease, meanwhile, has been downright electric, striking out nearly 14 batters per 9 inning and giving up less than 1 home run over the same span. His ERA sits at 3.09, which looks good, but his underlying stats are even better, giving him an expected ERA about a run lower. He will be the best pitcher the Sox have faced in a while, if not all year so far.

As for the Red Sox lineup, there are no surprises. Nor are there for the White Sox, for whom Tim Anderson of last weekend controversy fame leads off (he also rules). Yoán Moncada, the former Red Sox farmhand, returns to their lineup after being scratched Sunday to bat second.