Red Sox Series Preview: Round 2 at Blue Jays

May 4, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher

(11) delivers a pitch during the seventh inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Pitching Matchups @ Blue Jays (Rogers Centre):

May 8th @ 7:07 PM ET

• Wade Miley (1-3, 7.15 ERA) vs. Aaron Sanchez (2-2, 4.62 ERA)
• Your guess is as good as anybody’s when it comes to Miley. After only pitching 2.1 innings against the Baltimore Orioles, giving up 6 runs on 5 hits, he pitched 7.0 innings against the New York Yankees, giving up only 3 runs on 7 hits. Nothing of this looks commanding, but the Red Sox would rather see Miley have the latter result, except actually get the win this time. Both games were losses on Miley’s record.
• Sanchez has not allowed more than 3 runs in his last 5 starts for the Blue Jays. His stuff can be beastly, but has been susceptible to giving up costly hits with runners in scoring position.

May 9th @ 1:07 PM ET

• Joe Kelly (1-1, 5.72 ERA) vs. Drew Hutchison (2-0, 7.47 ERA)
• Don’t let his record fool you; Hutchison is definitely suffering on the mound. He has given up a combined 14 runs in his last three starts, lasting only into the 5th inning. Those performances put a ton of pressure on the bullpen to hold the other team from doing any more damage. Look for the Red Sox to try to capitalize once Hutchison goes down.
• Kelly has given up 5 runs in each of his last 3 starts, giving up 22 hits in that span. He has also struck out 20 opposing batters, too. These results could be from a young man trying too hard to justify the trade that the Red Sox made for him, a year ago. Kelly needs to rely on his defense to make some groundball outs by keeping more of his pitches lower, as he either whiffs the bat or serves it up a juicy pitch.

May 10th @ 1:07 PM ET

• Clay Buchholz (1-4, 6.03 ERA) vs. R.A. Dickey (1-3, 4.38 ERA)
• Buchholz has given up 9 runs in his last 9 innings, bleeding runs continuously. It feels slow and painful to Red Sox Nation, seeing him struggle on the mound.
• Dickey may be having a less-than-stellar start to 2015, but his last start was fantastic, if you are a Blue Jays fan. Against the Yankees, whom he has a great history of success against, Dickey threw 8 strong innings, giving up only 3 hits and a run, earning him the victory. However, the Red Sox are not the Yankees, by any means. Dickey gave up 17 runs in his previous 4 starts, including 4 runs to Boston in their previous series.