The Boston Red Sox will play as the visiting team against the Cleveland Indians Tuesday evening. It is the second of a four-game series. Boston took the first game, 4-1. Tuesday night’s game will start at 7:05 PM ET.
The Red Sox are the baseball betting odds favorites at -165 with the Indians paying +145. The over/under is 9.5 runs.
The Cleveland Indians (21-35, 8-15 home) are coming off of a series against Chicago in which they won two out of three. It was their first series win since mid-May. They are currently in last place in the AL Central and are 11.5 games behind division-leading Minnesota. They have the worst ERA in the AL at 4.84.
Monday’s game marked the first time catcher Victor Martinez played in Cleveland since leaving the Indians for the Red Sox in August of 2009. He played for Cleveland from 2002 to the time he was traded. He was greeted with a warm ovation and played well, batting 2 for 4 with an RBI.
After a disappointing start to the season, the Boston Red Sox (34-25, 16-11 away) have turned things around to make the race for the AL East much more interesting. They have won 7 of their last 9 and currently trail Tampa by 4 games and New York by 2 games.
Cleveland starter David Huff (2-6, 6.08 ERA) will hope to tame a Red Sox offense that leads the majors in runs with 318. The left-hander is coming off of a poor showing against Detroit in which he gave up five earned runs in three innings. He has never faced Boston.
Boston will also start a pitcher with an ERA higher than 6.00. Tim Wakefield (1-4, 6.02 ERA) will take the mound for the Red Sox. He is 0-2 with 13.97 ERA in his last two starts. The 43-year-old was tremendous against Cleveland last year, going 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two starts against them. He is particular strong against Travis Hafner (career 0-10) and Russell Branyan (career 3-15 with four strikeouts).
