Boston Red Sox (26-18, first in the AL East) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (23-18, third in the AL East)
Dunedin; Thursday, 7:37 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Nick Pivetta (5-0, 3.16 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 42 strikeouts) Blue Jays: Steven Matz (5-2, 4.29 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 46 strikeouts)
LINE: Blue Jays -136, Red Sox +116; over/under is 10 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Toronto and Boston will square off on Thursday.
The Blue Jays are 8-5 against AL East opponents. Toronto has hit 58 combined home runs this season, most in the American League. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leads the club with 11 while slugging .612 with 20 extra-base hits.
The Red Sox have gone 11-6 against division opponents. Boston ranks second in the MLB in hitting with a .263 batting average, Xander Bogaerts leads the club with an average of .346.
The Red Sox won the last meeting 7-3. Garrett Richards secured his fourth victory and Kike Hernandez went 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and an RBI for Boston. Ross Stripling took his third loss for Toronto.
TOP PERFORMERS: Guerrero Jr. leads the Blue Jays with 11 home runs and is batting .327.
Rafael Devers leads the Red Sox with 34 RBIs and is batting .276.
LAST 10 GAMES: Blue Jays: 7-3, .291 batting average, 3.94 ERA, outscored opponents by 16 runs
Red Sox: 5-5, .245 batting average, 3.58 ERA, outscored opponents by six runs
INJURIES: Blue Jays: Kirby Yates: (tommy john surgery), David Phelps: (right lat), Patrick Murphy: (shoulder), Tommy Milone: (undisclosed), Julian Merryweather: (left oblique), Tom Hatch: (elbow), Anthony Castro: (forearm), Ryan Borucki: (forearm), George Springer: (quad), Rowdy Tellez: (hamstring), Joe Panik: (calf), Alejandro Kirk: (left hip flexor).
Red Sox: Chris Sale: (elbow), Ryan Brasier: (left calf), Christian Arroyo: (left hand).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
