Game 31: Blue Jays at Red Sox

Tanner Houck enters May with a 4.50 ERA in five starts. He’s allowed 4 runs once, 3 runs and 2 runs twice each. He’s struck out 5, 4, 6, 7, and 2 batters per start since the season began. With Garret Whitlock on the IL and Corey Kluber struggling at times, Houck is looking for a good run to secure his rotation spot should James Paxton make his Red Sox debut. Why not against the Blue Jays? The Jays do have stars in Bichette, Vlad Jr., and Chapman but the surrounding bats in the lineup aren’t necessarily a force.

He’s opposed by Yusei Kikuchi, say it with me, a lefty, who has allowed 9 runs total this season in exactly the way you;d expect: 6 runs in one outing, 1 run three times, and 0 runs in his last start. That 6-run outing was agains the Los Angeles Angels while he handled the Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees, and Chicago White Sox with ease. While the Royals and White Sox aren’t good the Rays sure can hit. And so could a merely Stanton-less Yankees lineup. The Red Sox do have Rob “lefty smasher” Refsnyder in the lineup to help out.

First pitch is at 7:10 PM on WEEI and NESN.