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Boston Red Sox look to continue winning ways at Fenway against Colorado Rockies

By Sean Penney

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The Boston Red Sox look to continue their recent dominance at Fenway Park when they take on the Colorado Rockies.

The Boston Red Sox (27-17) host the Colorado Rockies (21-22) for a three game set that will wrap up the current homestand.

Boston has been tough to beat at home all season, but that has been particularly true of late. The Red Sox have won 11 of their last 13 games at Fenway Park and haven’t lost a series at home in over a month, when they dropped two out of three to the Tampa Bay Rays between April 19-21.

Overall, the Red Sox are 16-9 at Fenway this year, giving them an impressive .640 winning percentage and the second most home wins in the majors, trailing only the Baltimore Orioles (17-8).

Elite teams make their opponents fear coming into their ballpark. Based on how well the Red Sox are playing at home lately, that’s exactly what they are doing.

Pitching Matchups

Tuesday, May 24 @ 7:10 PM: David Price (6-1, 5.53 ERA) vs Jorge De La Rosa (1-3, 10.18 ERA)

Wednesday, May 25 @ 7:10 PM: Steven Wright (3-4, 2.52 ERA) vs Chad Bettis (4-2, 4.18 ERA)

Thursday, May 26 @ 7:10 PM: Clay Buchholz (2-4, 5.92 ERA) vs Jon Gray (1-2, 6.75 ERA)

Series Notes

  • Jackie Bradley, Jr. enters the series riding a major league-best 27-game hitting streak. During this span he’s hitting a scorching .408 (40-for-98) with 7 doubles, a triple and 8 home runs. Bradley’s streak is the longest by a Red Sox hitter since Johnny Damon hit in 29 straight games in 2005.
  • The Red Sox announced on Tuesday that reliever Carson Smith will need to go under the knife for the dreaded Tommy John surgery, ending his season after a mere 2.2 innings pitched.
  • Xander Bogaerts enters the series tied with Nick Castellanos of the Detroit Tigers for the AL lead in hitting at .346, while Bradley is right behind them at .342. David Ortiz isn’t quite in the same stratosphere in terms of batting average, but his .329 average is still good enough for fifth best in the league.
  • Travis Shaw is out of the lineup to begin the series due to a minor hand injury. Doesn’t sound too serious at this point, so there’s a chance he gets into a game later in the series.
  • The Red Sox have homered in 22 straight games. The last team to hit a home run in 23 straight was the 2013 Seattle Mariners.
  • The Red Sox and Rockies have split 16 games since interleague began. The two teams last saw each other in 2013, when Boston took three out of four games in the series. The Rockies are 3-5 in their history at Fenway Park.

Key Hitters

Red Sox: Xander Bogaerts

2016 Season (43 Games): .346/.397/.495, 4 HR, 25 RBI

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His hitting streak may not be as long as his teammate, Bradley’s, but the 16-game streak Bogaerts is on is impressive nonetheless. The 23-year old shortstop is hitting .402 during this stretch, with 5 doubles and 3 home runs.

After falling short in the batting title race last season, Bogaerts is making a strong case to take home the award in 2016.

Rockies: Nolan Arenado

2016 Season (43 Games): .299/.374/.605, 14 home runs, 34 RBI

Arenado may be the best player in baseball that most casual fans – especially those that follow AL teams – have never heard of. Colorado isn’t exactly an enormous baseball market to begin with, so with the Rockies struggling the last few years it’s been easy to overlook stars like Arenado. It’s time to start paying attention to the 25-year old third baseman. He’s tied for the NL lead with a 2.5 WAR and is one of the best all-around players in the game.

Next: Red Sox Strut

Before you scoff at Arenado’s stat line as a product of hitter-friendly Coors field, think again. He’s hitting .287 with a .921 OPS on the road this season, while half of his 14 home runs have come away from the thin air in Colorado.

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