Red Sox vs Rangers Series Preview Gives Edge To Beantown
Boston Should Earn Road Series Win This Weekend
A pair of third-place teams will square off this weekend when the Texas Rangers host the Boston Red Sox for a three-game series beginning on Friday night. Both teams are in need of wins to try to improve their playoff chances in the American League, so check out our Red Sox vs Rangers series preview to help you make your wagers.
Boston (57-50) is in third place in the AL East after winning two of three from the Seattle Mariners this week. The Red Sox are 6.5 games behind the second-place New York Yankees in the division race, while they’re two games out of the last Wild Card spot in the American League.
The Rangers dropped the final two games of a series with the St. Louis Cardinals and have dropped five of their last six contests. Texas (52-57) is eight games out of the final Wild Card spot in the AL but just 4.5 games behind the Mariners and the Houston Astros for the top spot in the AL West race.
The MLB best bets for the opener of this series are on the visiting Red Sox, who are listed at -122 to take Friday’s contest. The Rangers are +104 to earn the straight-up win in the opener.
If you’re betting on the run line, you can get Texas at -166 when it gets 1.5 runs, while Boston is +138 when giving those runs. The over/under for Friday’s contest is set at 8.5 runs, with the under getting -115 odds and the over -105.
The first game of the series is scheduled for an 8:05 p.m. ET start on Friday night, followed by a 7:05 p.m. ET first pitch on Saturday. The two teams will close out the series with a 2:35 p.m. contest on Sunday, with all games being played at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Boston Red Sox vs Texas Rangers 
Day/Time:
Location: Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas
Streaming: MLB
Pitching Matchups
Game 1: Kutter Crawford (Boston) vs Undecided (Texas)
Right-hander Kutter Crawford will get the start for Friday’s series opener for the Red Sox. Crawford is 6-8 with a 3.60 ERA, having struck out 117 batters in 122.1 innings over 21 starts. The 28-year-old has struggled since the All-Star break, starting twice and going a combined 9.2 innings and giving up 11 runs and eight home runs.
This comes after his two starts prior to the All-Star break were a combined 14 shutout innings.
After dealing away starter Michael Lorenzen at the trade deadline, the Rangers are scrambling a bit to put together their starting rotation. The team hasn’t named a starter for either of the first two games of this series, as injuries have also taken away from starting options for the team. Texas may turn to a bullpen game in the opener until it can decide who to put in the rotation.
Game 2: Tanner Houck (Boston) vs Undecided (Texas)
Boston will have righty Tanner Houck getting the start for Saturday’s contest. Houck is fifth in baseball with a 2.79 ERA this season, going 8-7 in 21 starts with 116 strikeouts. He’s had a couple of tough games since the All-Star Game, in which he gave up three runs in his inning of work.
In his two starts since then, he’s gone a combined 12 innings and given up eight runs (seven earned) on 15 hits while striking out four and walking seven.
As stated above, starting pitching is hard to come by these days for the Rangers. Even veteran Max Scherzer struggled in his start on Tuesday against the Cardinals, saying his arm is fatigued and he may need to go on five days rest from now on. Scherzer made his first start as a 40-year-old this week and allowed three runs in four innings, with his velocity dropping. Giving Scherzer more rest is going to make things even harder for Texas in piecing together its starting rotation.
Game 3: Nick Pivetta (Boston) vs Nathan Eovaldi (Texas)
The Red Sox will wrap up this series with righty Nick Pivetta making his 18th start of the campaign. Pivetta is 5-7 with a 4.47 ERA, striking out 112 in 90.2 innings of work. He picked up his first win in over a month in his last start, going 6.2 innings against Seattle on Monday and allowing three runs on six hits, including a pair of home runs, while striking out 10 and walking one.
Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi will try for his third win in as many starts when he gets the call on Sunday for Texas. Eovaldi is 8-4 with a 3.38 ERA, striking out 106 in 112 innings over 19 starts. He went six innings against the Cardinals on Monday, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out two and walking none.
Eovaldi didn’t walk a batter in any of his six starts in July – a combined 39 innings – and has multiple walks in just one of his last 12 starts since coming off a stint on the injured list in May, raising his Cy Young Award odds.
Rangers Need More Offensive Punch
After scoring six runs against St. Louis in Monday’s series opener, Texas managed just two runs over the last two games of the series, leading to two blowout losses. The Rangers’ offense has been inconsistent this season, but it needs to kick it into gear, especially with the starting pitching having its problems.
Shortstop Corey Seager has been a consistent power bat for the Rangers, hitting a team-high 19 home runs and driving in 50 runs. Seager is batting .273 with 14 doubles and 51 runs scored. Unfortunately, his power seems to be waning of late, as he has just one home run since July 13.
Seager is one of a few Rangers that need to get hot if one of the more unanimous MLB experts picks had as a playoff team is going to live up to that billing.
Boston has one of the more potent offenses in baseball this season, ranking seventh in the majors with 522 runs. One big reason for that has been the play of third baseman Rafael Devers, who comes into this series on an eight-game hitting streak. Devers has recorded multiple hits in six of those eight contests, and is coming off back-to-back three-hit games against Seattle.
Devers is batting .306 to rank ninth in baseball in the category, hitting 26 doubles, five triples and 24 home runs. He’s batted in 69 runs and scored 69 times.
Red Sox Continue Surge To Wild Card Spot
These two teams are going to get to know each other over the next 10 days, as they’ll play a three-game series in Fenway Park next weekend. Still, we know enough that our Red Sox vs Rangers series preview is going to end with Boston being our pick to take this series.
Texas is having trouble cobbling together a starting rotation, and Boston has been playing better baseball than the Rangers over the last few weeks. Look for the Red Sox to come away with at least two wins in Arlington this weekend.
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