The greatest rivalry continues this Sunday for game three of the series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. The Yankees are expecting to send out Sonny Gray (7-7) who was a quality trade pick from the Oakland A’s earlier this season. Gray hasn’t quite hit top gear for the Yankees, but opposing him on the mound is Doug Fister (2-6) who has had a far from stellar season. Both teams are vulnerable with their pitchers this Sunday, but expect the bats to be firing with the help of Yankees big man Aaron Judge and Red Sox recent acquisition Eduardo Nunez.
Boston Red Sox form
The Red Sox enter this series against their division rivals with a four-game lead over the Yankees. That was helped by a 2-0 series win over the Cardinals where they scored 15 runs to eight. These two sides are no strangers when it comes to playing each other during the regular season. Boston took the most recent series against the Yankees 2-1 after dropping the first game 5-4. The 5-4 loss to the Yankees ended an eight-game winning streak for the streaking Red Sox which are starting to come together and look like a World Series winning side.
Eduardo Nunez has been tearing up pitchers since arriving in Boston and along with the likes of Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi and Xander Bogaerts, the Red Sox have a complete betting line up. The Red Sox send out Dough Fister to the mound and that’s where punters should be concerned. Fister produced back-to-back wins before giving up five runs against Cleveland at his last outing, but his form prior to those wins was dreadful. He lost five consecutive games and he didn’t make it out of the fourth inning in any of those outings. His worse performance came against Toronto where he gave up six runs on six hits and was replaced early in the fourth. Fister is the weak link in this match up, but can the Red Sox’ bats give him enough run support. He’ll need at least 5-6 runs of support if the Sox are to win.
New York Yankees form
The Yankees started the season with a hiss and a roar before going into a mini-slump when losing two games against the Tigers and two against the Indians in succession. A recent series loss to the Red Sox saw the Yankees lose ground in the AL East standings, but they quickly rebounded by scoring four consecutive and narrow wins against cross-town rivals the Mets. The Yankees won all four games by two runs or less, and that showed plenty of fortitude. The stats read well for the Yankees which rank 4th in runs scored, 10th in batting average and 8th in slugging percentage.
That has been helped by the hitting of cult-hero Aaron Judge, who has rocketed 37 home runs this season and 80 RBI’s. Surprisingly, the Yankees pitching has performed well this season in the American League and that’s why they have been so successful early on this season. They rank 5th in ERA with 3.79 and 2nd in opponents’ batting average at .232. They don’t rank so well in quality starts with only 54 this season, but it’s about time Sonny Gray showed his best. Gray has pitched six innings in all three starts for the Yankees, giving up nine runs on 13 hits. The struggle for Gray has been his walks (9), which in turn has seen his pitch reach over 100 pitches his last two starts. For Oakland, Gray was a beast on the mound so give the 27-year-old some time to adjust to his new life in New York.
Red Sox vs. Yankees tip
It’s not easy to bet against the in-form Boston Red Sox, but we’re supremely worried about Doug Fister’s ability to locate the strike zone.n Fister will be the weak link on Sunday and this Yankees hitting line up isn’t to be taking lightly. The likes of Aaron Judge could have a field day and the Green Monster might get the odd visit or two. We’re expecting a good performance from Sonny Gray, who did pitch better at his last outing, and he should get enough run support to allow him some freedom. The results from the first two games of the series will dictate the head-to-head odds, but the Yankees should edge out favouritism and win the game.