Game 96: Red Sox at Athletics

The Red Sox enter play tonight in sole position of 4th place in the AL East, one game ahead of the New York Yankees, The Sox sit just 1.5 games back in the Wild Card hunt and 2.5 games back of the third place Toronto Blue Jays.

Starting as The Opener tonight is Joe Jacques. Jacques (Jakes, like many of the contributors to Over the Monster) has made 12 appearances for Boston - all out of the pen - entering tonight's start. With a 4.26 ERA / 2.10 FIP in the limited sample he might cruise through an inning or two but his season high - 33 pitches two times - limits the ceiling on his opening. Fellow southpaw Chris Murphy is likely to provide the bulk innings tonight after Nick Pivetta went yesterday. It’ll be a tough act to follow.

Oakland counters with righthander Luis Medina. Entering the night with a 6.34 ERA / 5.40 FIP and hit hard all year, he’s been a starter for the A’s but actually less effective than some of the openers we saw last series in Boston. In fact, on 7/7 Medina relieved an opener against Boston and while he went 6 innings, he allowed 4 runs.

Rafael Devers is still out, hoping rest will get him back soon,

Masataka Yoshida…what feat will be dazzle everyone with tonight?

And Jarren Duran: can he start to steal third base with all these doubles?

First pitch is at 9:40 PM ET on WEEI and NESN.