Rays square off against the Red Sox with series tied 1-1
Boston Red Sox (76-76, third in the AL East) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (74-78, fourth in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Thursday, 6:50 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Brayan Bello (14-7, 4.60 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 142 strikeouts); Rays: Zack Littell (7-9, 3.73 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 127 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Rays -115, Red Sox -105; over/under is 7 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox meet on Thursday with the three-game series tied 1-1.
Tampa Bay is 38-39 at home and 74-78 overall. The Rays have gone 53-26 in games when they record eight or more hits.
Boston is 41-36 on the road and 76-76 overall. The Red Sox have the third-ranked team slugging percentage in the AL at .429.
The matchup Thursday is the 10th meeting between these teams this season. The Red Sox have a 5-4 advantage in the season series.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yandy Diaz has 29 doubles, a triple, 14 home runs and 65 RBI for the Rays. Brandon Lowe is 8-for-34 with a triple, three home runs and four RBI over the past 10 games.
Jarren Duran has 45 doubles, 13 triples, 21 home runs and 73 RBI for the Red Sox. Tyler O'Neill is 6-for-37 with two doubles, four home runs and eight RBI over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 4-6, .241 batting average, 3.06 ERA, outscored by three runs
Red Sox: 4-6, .229 batting average, 3.58 ERA, outscored opponents by one run
INJURIES: Rays: Jeffrey Springs: 15-Day IL (elbow), Peter Anderson Fairbanks: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Richard Palacios: 10-Day IL (knee), Jacob Waguespack: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (forearm)
Red Sox: Rob Refsnyder: day-to-day (wrist), Brennan Bernardino: 15-Day IL (elbow), Isaiah Campbell: 60-Day IL (elbow), David Hamilton: 10-Day IL (finger), Luis Garcia: 15-Day IL (elbow), Lucas Sims: 15-Day IL (lat), James Paxton: 60-Day IL (leg), Bryan Mata: 60-Day IL (hamstring), Garrett Whitlock: 60-Day IL (oblique), Liam Hendriks: 60-Day IL (elbow), Chris Murphy: 60-Day IL (elbow), Lucas Giolito: 60-Day IL (elbow)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.