Cleveland Guardians vs. Boston Red Sox July 26 Betting Preview

Cleveland Guardians vs. Boston Red Sox July 26 Betting Preview

Ayden Fahlstrom
2 years ago
3 min read
Cleveland Guardians pitcher Zach Plesac (34) throws a pitch against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at Fenway Park. Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Now on a three-game losing streak, the Cleveland Guardians (48-47) will look to get back into the win column as they take on the Boston Red Sox (49-48) in the second of a four-game series on Tuesday. The Red Sox will host this one at Fenway Park with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 pm ET.

In the opener on Monday, the Red Sox were able to prevail 3-1. Nick Pivetta went 5.2 innings, allowing just one run for Boston while John Schreiber picked up the win in relief.

Offensively, the Red Sox managed just six hits with Alex Verdugo, Christian Vazquez, and Yolmer Sanchez driving in runs.

Zach Plesac took the loss for the Guardians, his eighth of the season. He went five innings, allowing three runs on three hits and striking out four.

With eight hits, the Guardians outhit the Red Sox, but they left 18 on base. Jose Ramirez and Myles Straw both had two hits apiece in the defeat.

Boston is favored Tuesday playing at home. They are -142 to win while the Guardians’ moneyline sits at +120. The runline features Cleveland +1.5 (-152), and the over/under for total runs is 10.5.

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Pitching Matchup

Cleveland is expected to go with Bryan Shaw in this one as part of a bullpen game. In 39 appearances this season, Shaw is 4-2 with a 5.29 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, and has 28 strikeouts in 34 innings.

Boston will send righty Josh Winckowski to the mound for the second game. In seven games, he is 3-4 with a 4.38 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, and he has 26 strikeouts in 37 innings of work. He has lost three straight outings and has given up nine runs in his last 11 innings pitched.

Cleveland Trying To Snap Losing Streak

With the AL Central as tight as it is, the Guardians cannot afford a prolonged losing streak. Having lost three in a row, they already have fallen 3.5 games behind the Twins and sit just a half game ahead of the White Sox in the division.

Unfortunately, their offense is starting to show its true colors a bit. After starting the season red hot, they have slipped to 16th in the majors in scoring averaging just 4.39 runs per game.

About the only regulars that are consistently producing are All-Stars Jose Ramirez and Andres Gimenez. Ramirez is hitting .289/.364/.569 with 19 home runs and 79 runs batted in while Gimenez is hitting .304/.362/.491 with 11 home runs and 45 runs batted in.

As a team, the Guardians are 5 for 18 against Winckowski and Jose Ramirez and Amed Rosario have the only runs batted in against the righty.

Boston Looks To Stay Above .500

Despite an inconsistent season, the Red Sox are very much in the hunt for a postseason berth via the Wild Card. As they try to stay in contention, they will also look to stay over .500 both at Fenway Park (24-23) and overall (49-48).

Even though they have been outslugged in recent weeks by opponents, the Red Sox offense still ranks 11th in the majors, averaging 4.58 runs per game. At Fenway Park, they are averaging 4.70 runs per game.

After a slow start, offseason signee Trevor Story has put together a nice season. In 307 at bats, he is currently hitting .221/.289/.423 with 15 home runs, 49 runs scored, and a team-leading 58 runs batted in.

Guardians Have Work To Do

After a treacherous stretch of games last week for the Red Sox, the last thing Cleveland wanted to do is give Boston a little momentum by taking the first game. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened and now the Guardians will have to piece together a bullpen game to try to even the series at a game apiece.

The biggest thing for the Guardians is they need their offense to lift some of the burden off the pitching staff. Monday’s game was winnable, but only scraping together just a single run wasn’t going to get the job done.

Josh Winckowski has struggled as of late, and if Cleveland can put some runs on the board against them, they will hope the pitching can take care of the rest.

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