Indians begin series at home against Red Sox
Boston Red Sox (104-49, first in AL East) vs. Cleveland Indians (85-67, first in AL Central)
Cleveland; Friday, 7:10 p.m. Eastern
PROBABLE PITCHERS: Red Sox: Chris Sale (12-4, 1.92 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 222 strikeouts) Indians: Trevor Bauer (12-6, 2.22 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 214 strikeouts)
BOTTOM LINE: Cleveland and Boston kick off a three-game series. The Indians come into the matchup with a 14-game lead over the Twins in the AL Central. Cleveland is averaging 4.8 RBIs per game this season. Jose Ramirez paces the team with 101 RBIs. The Red Sox are 17-8 in Sale's starts this season. The Boston offense has compiled a .267 batting average as a team this year, Mookie Betts leads the team with a mark of .339. Blake Swihart helped the Red Sox earn a 7-0 win when these two teams last met on Aug. 23. He went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
TOP PERFORMERS: J.D. Martinez is hitting .331 with 181 hits and 41 home runs in 143 games this year for the Red Sox. Brock Holt has three home runs and eight RBIs while slugging .895 over his past 10 games for Boston. Francisco Lindor is hitting .282 with 175 hits and 36 home runs in 149 games this year for the Indians. Jason Kipnis has three home runs and 12 RBIs over his past 10 games for Cleveland.
LAST 10 GAMES: Red Sox: 7-3, .251 batting average, 4.19 ERA, outscored by two runs. Indians: 4-6, .229 batting average, 3.41 ERA, outscored opponents by 11 runs.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by HERO Sports, and data from Sportradar.