Tampa Bay Rays (69-45, first in the AL East) vs. Boston Red Sox (66-50, second in the AL East)
Boston; Thursday, 4:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Rays: Drew Rasmussen (1-1, 4.15 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 50 strikeouts) Red Sox: Tanner Houck (0-2, 2.46 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 36 strikeouts)
LINE: Red Sox -130, Rays +112; over/under is 10 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Boston and Tampa Bay will square off on Thursday.
The Red Sox are 34-23 on their home turf. Boston is hitting a collective batting average of .259 this season, led by Xander Bogaerts with an average of .307.
The Rays are 34-23 on the road. Tampa Bay is slugging .413 as a unit. Nelson Cruz leads the team with a slugging percentage of .518.
The Red Sox won the last meeting 20-8. Nathan Eovaldi earned his 10th victory and Bogaerts went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and four RBIs for Boston. Josh Fleming took his sixth loss for Tampa Bay.
TOP PERFORMERS: Bogaerts leads the Red Sox with 122 hits and has 60 RBIs.
Randy Arozarena leads the Rays with 105 hits and has 52 RBIs.
LAST 10 GAMES: Red Sox: 3-7, .285 batting average, 5.89 ERA, outscored by eight runs
Rays: 7-3, .257 batting average, 6.07 ERA, outscored opponents by six runs
INJURIES: Red Sox: Chris Sale: (elbow), Darwinzon Hernandez: (oblique), Ryan Brasier: (calf), Eduard Bazardo: (lat), Matt Andriese: (hamstring), Kyle Schwarber: (hamstring), Danny Santana: (groin), Christian Arroyo: (hamstring).
Rays: Ryan Yarbrough: (health protocols), Ryan Thompson: (shoulder), Jeffrey Springs: (knee), Chaz Roe: (shoulder), Cody Reed: (thumb), Colin Poche: (elbow), DJ Johnson: (shoulder), Tyler Glasnow: (elbow), J.P. Feyereisen: (shoulder), Pete Fairbanks: (shoulder), Oliver Drake: (forearm), Yonny Chirinos: (elbow), Jalen Beeks: (elbow), Chris Archer: (forearm), Nick Anderson: (elbow), Kevin Kiermaier: (knee).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
