Boston Red Sox (44-30, first in the AL East) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (44-31, second in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Thursday, 7:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Nick Pivetta (6-3, 4.36 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 86 strikeouts) Rays: Michael Wacha (1-2, 5.19 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 32 strikeouts)
BOTTOM LINE: Tampa Bay and Boston will face off on Thursday.
The Rays are 20-11 against AL East opponents. Tampa Bay has a team on-base percentage of .311, led by Yandy Diaz with a mark of .372.
The Red Sox are 18-9 against the rest of their division. Boston ranks third in the majors in hitting with a .257 batting average, Xander Bogaerts leads the team with an average of .324.
The Rays won the last meeting 8-2. Rich Hill earned his sixth victory and Brandon Lowe went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBIs for Tampa Bay. Garrett Richards took his fifth loss for Boston.
TOP PERFORMERS: Austin Meadows leads the Rays with 52 RBIs and is batting .231.
Rafael Devers leads the Red Sox with 42 extra base hits and 60 RBIs.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 3-7, .214 batting average, 4.09 ERA, outscored by three runs
Red Sox: 5-5, .264 batting average, 5.87 ERA, outscored by 16 runs
INJURIES: Rays: Chaz Roe: (shoulder), Cody Reed: (thumb), Colin Poche: (elbow), Tyler Glasnow: (elbow), Oliver Drake: (forearm), Yonny Chirinos: (elbow), Jalen Beeks: (elbow), Chris Archer: (forearm), Nick Anderson: (elbow), Taylor Walls: (undisclosed).
Red Sox: Chris Sale: (elbow), Ryan Brasier: (left calf), Christian Arroyo: (shin), Kevin Plawecki: (hamstring).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
