Boston Red Sox (75-76, third in the AL East) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (74-77, fourth in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Wednesday, 6:50 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Tanner Houck (8-10, 3.24 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 150 strikeouts); Rays: Ryan Pepiot (8-6, 3.76 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 119 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Rays -122, Red Sox +102; over/under is 7 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays play the Boston Red Sox, leading the series 1-0.
Tampa Bay has gone 38-38 in home games and 74-77 overall. Rays pitchers have a collective 3.88 ERA, which ranks seventh in the AL.
Boston is 75-76 overall and 40-36 on the road. The Red Sox are eighth in MLB play with 188 total home runs, averaging 1.2 per game.
The teams meet Wednesday for the ninth time this season. The season series is tied 4-4.
TOP PERFORMERS: Christopher Morel leads Tampa Bay with 21 home runs while slugging .356. Brandon Lowe is 8-for-33 with three home runs and four RBI over the past 10 games.
Tyler O'Neill has 18 doubles and 31 home runs for the Red Sox. Rob Refsnyder is 6-for-16 with a double and two home runs over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 5-5, .249 batting average, 2.96 ERA, outscored opponents by four runs
Red Sox: 4-6, .240 batting average, 3.99 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs
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.
