Toronto Blue Jays (31-29, fourth in the AL East) vs. Boston Red Sox (38-25, second in the AL East)
Boston; Friday, 7:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Blue Jays: Ross Stripling (2-3, 4.71 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 43 strikeouts) Red Sox: Garrett Richards (4-4, 3.88 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, 58 strikeouts)
LINE: Red Sox -133, Blue Jays +113; over/under is 9 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Boston and Toronto will square off on Friday.
The Red Sox are 15-6 against opponents from the AL East. The Boston offense has compiled a .256 batting average as a team this season, good for third in the American League. Xander Bogaerts leads the team with an average of .324.
The Blue Jays are 10-11 against AL East Division teams. Toronto's team on-base percentage of .319 is third in the American League. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leads the lineup with an OBP of .424.
The Red Sox won the last meeting 8-7. Phillips Valdez notched his second victory and Bobby Dalbec went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs for Boston. Rafael Dolis registered his first loss for Toronto.
TOP PERFORMERS: Rafael Devers leads the Red Sox with 34 extra base hits and is batting .273.
Guerrero Jr. leads the Blue Jays with 30 extra base hits and is batting .329.
LAST 10 GAMES: Red Sox: 6-4, .243 batting average, 4.05 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs
Blue Jays: 5-5, .256 batting average, 4.52 ERA, outscored by eight runs
INJURIES: Red Sox: Chris Sale: (elbow), Ryan Brasier: (left calf).
Blue Jays: Kirby Yates: (tommy john surgery), David Phelps: (right lat), Patrick Murphy: (shoulder), Tommy Milone: (shoulder), Julian Merryweather: (left oblique), Tom Hatch: (elbow), A.J. Cole: (neck), Ryan Borucki: (forearm), Travis Bergen: (shoulder), George Springer: (quad), Cavan Biggio: (spine), Alejandro Kirk: (left hip flexor), Danny Jansen: (hamstring).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
