Red Sox vs. Braves Series Preview: The Chop comes to Fenway

The Red Sox will take on the Braves for a series at Fenway.

The Boston Red Sox (34-16) return home for a series at Fenway Park against the young Atlanta Braves (29-19) who have gotten off to a faster start than expected. This will be the first Interleague series of the season for the Red Sox.

The NL East leading Braves are coming off a power outage against the Phillies, where Atlanta’s only three runs of the series were scored in their 3-1 victory. The Braves were blanked by the Phillies twice, dropping two out of three games in Philly.

The Red Sox captured the first two games of their series against the Rays thanks to excellent pitching effort from Chris Sale and David Price. Unfortunately, Rick Porcello failed to fool anyone at the plate, surrendering six runs (four earned) on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings pitched. The Red Sox are happy to leave Tropicana Field, where they struggled to score against a pesky Rays team. Still, the Red Sox are pleased with two out of three.

These two teams don’t meet often, but this series is one of the few interesting ones for the Red Sox. Boston must take every team seriously and handle business on the field, but the Braves provide solid competition for the Red Sox.

Pitching Matchups

Friday, May 25 at 7:10 PM Eduardo Rodriguez (4-1, 4.13 ERA ) vs. Julio Teheran (4-1, 4.17 ERA)

Saturday, May 26 at 1:05 PM Drew Pomeranz (1-2, 5.97 ERA ) vs. Sean Newcomb (5-1, 2.39 ERA)

Sunday, May 27 at 1:05 PM Chris Sale (5-1, 2.17 ERA ) vs. Mike Foltynewicz (3-3, 2.72 ERA)

Series Notes

• In 37 career starts at Fenway, Rodriguez is 10-9 with a 4.64 ERA.
• Teheran has given up 10 runs in his last two outings (11 innings).
• Pomeranz is 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA in his last three starts.
• The Braves have won each of Newcomb’s last five starts.
• Despite Sale’s favorable numbers against most teams in baseball, he was hammered for eight runs in five innings in his first career outing against the Braves on July 8, 2016.
• Foltynewicz has allowed two earned runs or fewer in nine of his 10 starts. He’s 1-1 with an outstanding 0.56 ERA in his last three starts.

Three Keys To Victory

• Starting pitching: The Braves are a young team who’s rebuilding season has produced a playoff contender. The Red Sox are the superior team on paper, but Rodriguez, Pomeranz and Sale better bring their best efforts against the Braves, who have been able to pitch exceptionally thus far. If E-Rod or Pomeranz implode early in the game, it could be a tough task for the Red Sox to overcome against a strong starting pitching staff.
• Production from first base: Hanley Ramirez has ran into a wall at the plate. Ramirez is hitting a dreadful .188 with a .567 OPS in May. Could Mitch Moreland see more time against the Braves? Moreland is batting .325 against righties and .273 against lefties, which suggests Ramirez could receive a couple of days off.
• Offensive battle: Whether the Red Sox are faced with a pitching battle or offensive blast off, the Braves (ranked No. 3 in MLB in runs scored) know how to score. Just because there isn’t any Aaron Judge or Jose Altuve in Atlanta’s lineup, doesn’t mean they can’t hang with Boston in a high-scoring game. If the Red Sox struggle offensively this series, it’ll be an ugly one.

Next: Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia could return this weekend

Check back with BoSox Injection prior to the start of every Red Sox series this season for our preview!