Today at 12:35 p.m. ET, the Boston Red Sox (53-65) and Cincinnati Reds (60-59) take the field at Great American Ball Park for the second game of their brief interleague series live from Cincinnati. The game can be live streamed here. Boston fans can hear all of the action on WEEI 93.7 while Cincinnati fans can do the same on WLW 700.
Boston is closing out an eight-game road trip it is currently 4-3 on while Cincinnati finishes up a seven-game homestand it is 3-3 on entering Wednesday. The Red Sox defeated the Reds 3-2 in Tuesday's game.
Rookie Anthony Ranaudo (1-0, 3.00 ERA) takes the ball for Boston while Cincinnati answers with Mike Leake, who is 9-10 with a 3.42 ERA.
Boston comes into Wednesday in last place in the American League East and 15 games behind the first place Baltimore Orioles while Cincinnati enters play in fourth place in the National League Central, 5.5 games behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers and 2.5 games out of a wild-card spot.
Leake is coming off of a performance against the Miami Marlins where he allowed two runs and five hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in a loss.
"I was just trying to keep the ball down and minimize the damage," Leake said per MLB.com. "They got some guys on base, but I was able to minimize them crossing the plate."
Leake will face a Boston lineup that is anchored by designated hitter David Ortiz, who ranks tied for fourth in the AL in RBI with 84 and leads the team with 26 homers, and first baseman Mike Napoli, who is tied for fourth in the AL with a 3.84 on-base percentage and is fifth with 62 walks. Ortiz may sit this afternoon.
Third baseman Brock Holt leads the Red Sox with a .295 batting average.
Ranaudo made his debut on Aug. 1 and picked up his first-career win over the New York Yankees and will look to go two-for-two this afternoon.
"I think pitching against the Yankees on a Friday night at Fenway [Park] allows me to take a deep breath and say I've done that," Ranaudo told MLB.com.
Ranaudo will face a Reds lineup that is led by third baseman Todd Frazier, who paces Cincinnati in batting average (.281) homers (20-tied) and RBI (63).
Outfielder Billy Hamilton has been a spark plug for the Reds, ranking second in the NL with 44 stolen bases and fifth in the league with seven triples.
The Red Sox and Reds closeout their brief two-game interleague series live from Great American Ball Park this afternoon in Cincinnati.
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