Tonight at 7:07 p.m. the Boston Red Sox (71-49) will look to stay atop the American League East standings against the last place Toronto Blue Jays (54-64) at Rogers Centre in the first of three games. Live stream the game here, or listen to the Red Sox broadcast on WEEI 93.7. The Toronto radio broadcast can be heard on SN590.
Entering the season the Red Sox and Blue Jays were expected to be in each others' place at this point in the season. Injuries and inconsistent play from new acquisitions expected to dominate have conspired to sink Toronto while a culture change in Beantown has sparked the Sox.
While the season's not necessarily over for Toronto, they will need to win a lot of games down the stretch. A good showing against Boston with Todd Redmond (1-1, 4.22 ERA) on the mound would be an excellent place to start.
Redmond is replacing Josh Johnson, who was scratched last night and tonight with elbow soreness. In his most recent start Redmond was shellacked over 3.2 innings against the Los Angeles Angels.
Redmond will be going up against Ryan Dempster (6-8, 4.67 ERA) who has had two bad starts in August. The Red Sox offense has saved both of those poor outings, winning with surges. "I want to try and leave the game leading and not losing, not relying on these comebacks," Dempster said.
If Dempster is struggling, he'd be smart to pitch around Jays outfielder Jose Bautista, who is hitting .350 in his last seven games, with two home runs and four RBI. In fact, the slugger has been scorching all August, registering a .366 batting average with those two dingers and six RBI. He's also reaching base at close to a .470 clip while posting an OPS of 1.055.
Shortstop Jose Reyes has also hit well this month, batting .286 with three homers (one more than Bautista), 10 RBI and one stolen base.
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