Boston Red Sox (15-29, fifth in the AL East) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (28-15, first in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Thursday, 6:40 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Boston: Mike Kickham (1-0, 5.40 ERA) Tampa Bay: Josh Fleming (3-0, 3.52 ERA)
LINE: Rays favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Tampa Bay and Boston will face off on Thursday.
The Rays are 21-10 against AL East teams. Tampa Bay has a collective on-base percentage of .328, good for third in the American League. Yandy Diaz leads the team with a mark of .423.
The Red Sox are 9-21 against AL East Division teams. Boston's team on-base percentage of .327 is fourteenth in the MLB. Alex Verdugo leads the team with an OBP of .366.
TOP PERFORMERS: Willy Adames leads the Rays with 39 hits and has 15 RBIs.
Verdugo leads the Red Sox with 47 hits and has 14 RBIs.
INJURIES: Rays: Chaz Roe: (elbow), Cody Reed: (finger), Colin Poche: (elbow), Andrew Kittredge: (elbow), Oliver Drake: (right biceps), Yonny Chirinos: (elbow), Jalen Beeks: (elbow), Jose Alvarado: (shoulder), Yandy Diaz: (hamstring), Mike Zunino: (oblique).
Red Sox: Chris Sale: (elbow), Eduardo Rodriguez: (heart), Darwinzon Hernandez: (sc joint), Kyle Hart: (hip), Nathan Eovaldi: (calf), Colten Brewer: (finger), Andrew Benintendi: (rib), Dustin Pedroia: (knee), Yairo Munoz: (right hip).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by , and data from ,.
