The three-game skid is over and the Sox have us back in the winning column this month. Right back to Fenway to try and even up the record in June. Roenis Elias gets his first start for Boston against his former club.
Free Pick
In order to give Rick Porcello and David Price an extra day of rest and give Elias a chance to show what he can do in his first Major League start of 2016, John Farrell has made the call for his lefty after a string of good starts at Pawtucket. It will be just Elias’ second appearance this season after getting hit hard in a relief appearance against Baltimore but Friday will be a big opportunity for the Cuban to jump into the mix for a spot in Boston’s tenuous back end of the rotation. A challenging opportunity, however. Seattle has scored the second-most runs in the American League and has done most of its damage away from home, where the M’s are just 15-18. If Seattle can put up the run totals it’s put up in the first half of the season playing at Safeco Field, shutting them down at Fenway sounds like a shaky proposition. 
The Mariners have only scored the second-most runs in the AL because Boston continues to pace well ahead of, not only the American League, but all of Major League Baseball. Their 377 runs scored are 24 more than the next closest lineup in baseball (St. Louis). Boston faces Hisashi Iwakuma tonight, who just continues to be a steady and dependable starting pitcher. He’s gone exactly seven innings in each of his last four and just about every outing is right on the edge of a quality start. What’s scary is all the fly ball outs he’s depended on over his last six starts (17, 10, 16, 12, 10, 17). Four of those starts came at home and another came against the Reds. These are the Red Sox at Fenway Park and I’m not sure Iwakuma will get 21 outs tonight. The over for a half unit.
Free Pick: Over 9.5 -110
YTD: 13-11-1 +1.52
2015: 31-25-5 +1.09
2014: 45-28-3 +9.02
boston • fenway park • hisashi iwakuma • mariners • red sox • seattle