We’re down to the last week of the regular season. The final few games are thankfully at Fenway Park after the Sox completed their final road trip of the year last week. First up are the Cleveland Guardians.
The Red Sox last saw them in May, when Boston took two of three while scoring 9 runs in each of their wins. It looked like The Turnaround. Of course it would be nearly a month before that would happen. The Guardians? They’ve displaced the White Sox atop the AL Central. Is the White Sox magical
run going to come up short of the playoffs? Or just turn into a Wild Card berth? The Red Sox might play a role in deciding that.
Tuesday’s game has a pair of young, talented lefties facing off. Parker Messick is having a great year. He lost a game to the Sox in May but only allowed 1 run in 5.0 innings. The Sox picked up single runs in the 6th and 8th innings and then scored 6 in the 9th, for good measure. He’s matched up against Payton Tolle. Tolle, in his last start of the regular season, is perhaps lined up to start Game 1 of the Wild Card series. He didn’t face Cleveland earlier this year and he’s been cruising. The Red Sox have won four of his last five starts. He struck out 38 against 7 walks.
Foster Griffin returned to MLB after three seasons in Japan and was pretty good for the Nationals. Since being traded to Cleveland, he’s struggled. At least in terms of ERA. With Washington he out-pitched his FIP by a run, In Cleveland he’s almost two runs in the other direction. He’ll be looking to try and carry the Guardians to a win and secure the division. Sonny Gray will make his last regular season start live on ESPN. Yes, there’s a mid-week national TV game. Gray has pitched like the ace all season in place of Garrett Crochet. He’s put up four quality starts in his last five outings. He tossed the one win against Cleveland in May by allowing just a single run in 6.0 innings.
Cleveland currently has TBD listed for the Thursday finale. Last time through the rotation following Griffin, they used Daniel Espino (righty) as an opener for Joey Cantillo (lefty). Cantillo has made 30 starts this season so this isn’t a Brayan Bello situation. He’d been starting until the last two outings, when he came in for the second and third innings, respectively. Overall he has a 3.74 ERA / 4.02 FIP. He’s struck out 167 hitters in 154 innings but also leads the league in walks with 79. The Sox will send Ranger “Mr. October” Suarez to the mound for his tuneup before the playoffs. Ranger had a weird outing last time: 5.2 innings, 5 Ks, 5 BBs. The Sox did top the Rays 4-2 but he had a little trouble after issuing just three free passes total over the three previous starts. Suarez started the other win against Cleveland. He allowed 4 runs in 5.0 innings but struck out 10 and the bats piled up 0 runs to bail him out. Can’t complain there.
Rookie Travis Bazzana is hitting .246/.338/.407 with 15 homers in his 118 games.
José Ramírez has been their team MVP for a while but since he returned from the IL has hit just .234/.301/.315 for 48 games. Clearly he’s still struggling.
Since he was acquired from the Angels, Jo Adell has hit 6 homers.
After slashing just .225/.332/.282 during the first half Steven Kwan has been hot: .354/.440/.430 since the All Star Game.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Tuesday, September 22: Parker Messick (2.57 ERA / 3.11 FIP) vs. Payton Tolle (3.02 ERA / 3.04 FIP)
Wednesday, September 23: Foster Griffin (3.67 ERA / 4.07 FIP) vs. Sonny Gray (2.82 ERA / 3.50 FIP)
Thursday, September 24: TBD (— ERA / — FIP) vs. Ranger Suarez (3.27 ERA / 3.12 FIP)
When/Where to Watch
Tuesday, September 22: 6:45 PM ET on NESN
Wednesday, September 23: 7:10 PM ET on ESPN
Thursday, September 24: 6:45 PM ET on NESN
