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Boston will look to rebound from a disappointing 6-5 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday in Toronto, as closer Jonathan Papelbon suffered his sixth blown save of the season.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t have much power or energy in my delivery today,\u201d said Papelbon.\u00a0 The Red Sox are now 4-3 on their current 10-game road trip and have fallen four games back in the wild card race behind the Rays.\u00a0 The collapse of the bullpen was unusual, with the unit posting a 1.57 ERA over its last 15 games and the closer\u2019s 0.75 ERA in 24 previous appearances against the Blue Jays.\u00a0 The club is 10-5 as a road underdog of +100 to +125 this season (+600) and the total is 7-7 O\/U in those contests.\u00a0 Boston is just 7-6 over the course of this month, but is a fantastic 41-27 in August the last three years (+900).<\/p>\n
Red Sox starting pitcher Josh Beckett is 3-2 with a 6.21 ERA in 12 starts this season, but suffered one of his worst outings last time out.\u00a0 He dropped a 7-2 road decision to the Yankees, allowing seven runs and 11 hits in just 4.2 innings.\u00a0 The right-hander is 2-1 with a 6.23 ERA in seven away starts this year, as opposing hitters are hitting a combined .309 against him.\u00a0 He hasn\u2019t enjoyed great success in August over his career, posting a losing 15-17 mark and 4.48 ERA in 44 starts, as it\u2019s the only month that his record is under .500.\u00a0 In six career starts versus the Rangers, Beckett is an even 2-2 with a 4.82 ERA, including a 2-1 mark and 2.25 ERA in Texas.<\/p>\n
Texas will begin this three-game series with a 7 1\/2-game lead in the AL West division, but is coming off a gut-wrenching 7-6 loss to the Yankees.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s definitely tough, but it\u2019s just one game,\u201d outfielder David Murphy said.\u00a0 \u201cA sign of a good team is resiliency and we\u2019ve shown it all season.\u201d\u00a0 The Rangers 37-22 record at home ranks as the second-best mark in the American League and seventh-best in the majors.\u00a0 The club has gone 12-4-2 in series at home this season, with a 7-2-1 record in Arlington series since the beginning of June.\u00a0 Texas has struggled against AL East opponents, posting a losing 10-17 mark, including a 6-8 record at home.\u00a0 The Rangers are 10-4 as a home favorite of -125 to -150 (+420) and 34-21 in this situation the last three years (+480).\u00a0 The team has had its troubles in August, going 29-38 over the last three seasons, including a 4-5 record this year (-230).<\/p>\n
Rangers starting pitcher Tommy Hunter is 9-1 with a 3.01 ERA in 12 starts this season, with the team alternating wins and losses in his last three outings.\u00a0 He picked up a 6-0 road victory in his last appearance, tossing 6.1 shutout innings and scattering eight hits while striking out five.\u00a0 The right-hander is a perfect 6-0 with a 2.53 ERA in seven home starts, allowing opponents to hit for a combined .243 average.\u00a0 He has made all but one of his starts under the lights, posting an 8-1 record and 3.30 ERA.\u00a0 In three lifetime starts against the Red Sox, he is 2-1 with a 7.53 ERA, managing to strike out just four batters in 14.1 innings.<\/p>\n
Bettors may want to focus on both teams record against winning opponents during the second half of the season.\u00a0 The Red Sox come in with a 10-10 record (-60), while the Rangers have compiled an impressive 13-6 mark (+590).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Both teams are coming off disappointing defeats in starting a crucial three-game series in Arlington. Boston Red Sox at Texas Rangers Boston will look to rebound from a disappointing 6-5 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday in Toronto, as closer Jonathan Papelbon suffered his sixth blown save of the season.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444],"tags":[1575,1357,1695,69,2518,350,771,1694],"class_list":["post-6296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-al-east","tag-al-west","tag-arlington","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-jonathan-papelbon","tag-josh-beckett","tag-texas-rangers","tag-tommy-hunter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6296"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6297,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6296\/revisions\/6297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}