Game 84: Red Sox at Blue Jays

Once again the Red Sox are playing a “win and be at .500” game. Will this be the last one? Who knows! Can Kutter Crawford match the expectations set by Brayan Bello and James Paxton the last two days? Well, it’ll be hard but hey, motivation.

Since his return to the rotation in June, Crawford has made five starts and posted a 4.71 ERA / 3.33 FIP. He’s only gone 21 innings as the first two starts were building up his workload again, but he’s struck out 20 batters while walking only 4. This is legitimately a good run but the Red Sox, slumping in June, won just 1 game out of 5.

Yusei Kikuchi, a lefty, is perhaps poised for regression, which would be a welcome surprise for the Red Sox. The Toronto Blue Jays starter has a tidy 3.75 ERA but a whopping 5.28 FIP on the season. He gets his share of strikeouts and doesn’t walk tons but also gives up a lot of hits. If the bats are awake today maybe they make something happen.

First pitch is at 3:07 PM ET on WEEI and NESN.