Game 87: Rangers at Red Sox

If the plan is to stay in the Wild Card race the Red Sox losing game one to the Texas Rangers is pretty much all they can afford. Obviously capitalizing on wins against a bad Oakland A’s team is a separate matter but for those games to count, Boston needs the next two. And tonight they send Brayan Bello to the mound.

Bello was working on a no-hitter deep into his last start against the Miami Marlins. A game the Red Sox would end up losing 2-0 in embarrassing fashion. While the Marlins have a negative run differential (361 scored, 369 allowed) the Texas Rangers have literally scored the most runs in baseball with 511. This is a big test for the young ace. At least it shouldn’t be raining.

Jon Gray is having a fine second season in Texas. He’s walking in with a 3.21 ERA / 4.40 FIP in 87 innings with under a strikeout per inning, which is abnormal for him. The 6’4” righty has been knocked around in two of his last three starts. He lasted just 2.1 innings agains the Blue Jays on June 18th while allowing 6 earned runs and gave up 5 runs against the Astros last time out. But in 10 starts this year he’s allowed two runs or less.

Adam Duvall is still looking to get his bat back after a long IL stint.

Masataka Yoshida is back up to .307.

Triston Casas starts tonight on the bench with Justin Turner playing first base.

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