The Boston Red Sox were able to ride Martin Perez to victory over the Houston Astros last Thursday and will look to him to silence those same bats for a second time in six days on Tuesday in Boston.
Perez pitched his 7²/₃ scoreless innings in Houston. He has been more comfortable on the road, where opponents are hitting .222 and he has a 2.15 ERA, compared to .268 and 4.03 at Fenway Park.
Astros starter Framber Valdez is looking to make up for lost time after beginning the season on the injured list. One of Valdez’s two starts this season came against the Red Sox, and he held them to one run in seven innings while striking out 10 on June 2.
The Astros entered Monday leading the majors in hits per game and fewest strikeouts per game, both overall and on the road. They also led the AL in runs per game with 5.3.
With the Red Sox having a worse record at home than on the road and the Astros having won seven of the past 10 games in this series overall entering Monday, it shapes up to be a long night at Fenway for the Red Sox.
The play: Astros, -115.