MLB Betting – Bo-Sox Go for Two Straight in the Bronx

Boston Red (+146) Sox at New York Yankees (-156, 9 o/u)

Though they trail their arch-rivals by 13 games in the standings, the Boston Red Sox (48-60, 21-32 Away) are never ones to roll over when they meet the New York Yankees (60-46, 31-18 Home). Last night, the Sox spoiled the major league debut of much-heralded youngster Luis Severino, edging the 21-year-old Dominican 2-1. Boston will send Eduardo Rodriguez (6-3, 4.34 ERA) to the hill tonight to face CC Sabathia (4-8, 5.54 ERA), hoping to take the rubber match of the three game set at Yankee Stadium (7:05 PM Eastern Time).

Last night’s low-scoring affair was a nice bounce-back win for the Red Sox, who were crushed 13-3 in the opener. Steven Wright pitched a gem, throwing eight innings of four-hit, one-run ball while striking out nine.

“Given this lineup in this ballpark, he was outstanding from start to finish,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said to the Associated Press.

Rodriguez is 3-1 in his last six starts, but he left his last outing with a no-decision after throwing 5.0 innings and allowing six hits and three runs in a 7-5 win over the Rays, .

Sabathia, meanwhile, has posted no-decisions in three straight and was lucky to escape his last outing without a loss; he was touched up for nine hits and five runs over just five innings in a 7-6 loss to the Rangers.

“Just something you have to keep working on,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after Sabathia’s ugly outing against Texas. “That’s the only thing you could do. You have to keep working on it and try to get better each time he goes out. Today was strange because the lefties got him, and that’s unusual, so we’ll have to take a look at it.”

The aging lefty spent some time in the hospital with an illness over the past week, but appears to be fully recovered.

Sabathia is about the only weak link in a rejuvenated Yankees rotation.  Coming off his stint in the hospital, don’t expect tonight to be the night he finds his form. Rodriguez and the Sox (+146) look like better value.

Pick: Red Sox (+146).

(Photo credit: User chris.ptacek on Flickr (Originally posted to Flickr as “[1]”) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)