Offense had come easy to the Boston Red Sox until they got out to the West Coast. Over the weekend, Boston dropped their series in San Francisco and only managed eight runs in three games. Now, they’ll head up to Seattle to face the Mariners who beat the Diamondbacks in two of three this weekend, making up a game on the Red Sox in a heated AL Wild Card race.
Both the 56-49 Red Sox and 54-51 Mariners are on the outside of the postseason picture looking in. For Game 1 of three in Seattle, the Red Sox will go with Nick Pivetta against George Kirby. Pivetta is 7-5 with a 4.11 ERA in 25 appearances and Kirby is 9-8 in 20 starts with a 3.49 ERA.
The Mariners are home favorites coming off a series win with the advantage on the mound. Let’s check out the odds.
Red Sox vs. Mariners odds, run line and total
Red Sox vs. Mariners prediction and pick
It was a shocking series in San Francisco after the Red Sox took both games from the Braves and I fully expect the bats to come back at some point, but not today against George Kirby.
Kirby has been very good for the Mariners, but last time out he got himself into early trouble against the Twins. That’s very uncharacteristic of Kirby who has been one of the best first inning pitchers in all of baseball this year. Kirby still had nine strikeouts to just one walk in that start and only has 12 walks to 122 strikeouts all season long. Kirby had back-to-back starts against Minnesota which is a tough spot to be in and familiarity won out for the hitters in that case. He hasn’t seen Boston since May 15 when he went 6.2 innings and gave up just one run.
Nick Pivetta is doing something that’s pretty unfamiliar and that’s starting a game. He hasn’t done it since May 16 against Seattle, but he’s earned his way back into the rotation. Pivetta hasn’t given up a run in each of his last three outings and while I don’t think he’ll pitch a shutout today I expect a decent outing.
For as good as the Red Sox have been at the plate, their pitching staff has also been very good this month ranking sixth in ERA. The Mariners are third at 3.40 in July. I’ll take the under despite the low total in this one.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change