The Boston Red Sox are trending in the right direction and can extend their winning streak to five games when they face the visiting Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
It will be the third matchup in a four-game series that will conclude Monday afternoon. Boston prevailed 10-3 on Friday night and won 4-3 on Saturday when Triston Casas hit an RBI single against Mike Vasil with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning.
“It was a tough at-bat going in (because) I didn’t know what to look for,” Casas said. “(Vasil) threw me the changeup. Doubled up on it and left it in a spot where I could get a good swing off. … It was a big day overall.”
Chicago will enter Sunday’s contest on a six-game losing streak and hasn’t scored more than three runs in any of those six losses. The White Sox were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position Saturday.
The loss dropped Chicago’s road record to 0-8.
“I hope that these guys look at a game like this — we look at some of the things we could have done better, but we look at the things we did well, too,” White Sox manager Will Venable told the Chicago Tribune. “And that every opportunity we have on the field is an opportunity to analyze and get better. And at the same time, this gives them confidence that they can come in here and play with these guys.
“It was a good game. Sucks to lose.”
Right-hander Sean Burke (1-3, 7.56 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for Chicago on Sunday. It’ll be his first career appearance against the Red Sox.
Boston will go with righty Tanner Houck (0-2, 9.16), who is 1-3 with a 4.79 ERA in five career appearances (four starts) against the White Sox.
Houck’s last start was among the worst in Red Sox history. He allowed 12 runs (11 earned) on 10 hits in 2 1/3 innings of Monday’s 16-1 loss to Tampa Bay. Thirteen of the 20 batters he faced reached base.
Boston pitching coach Andrew Bailey said Houck’s problems in that start stemmed largely from poor location and non-competitive pitches at key times.
“Looking behind the curtain a little bit, it’s always going to be location-dependent,” Bailey told MassLive on Saturday. “Count leverage is key in this game. We know he’s a pitcher who’s going to generate weak contact and rely on balls in play. We have to be able to generate swing-and-miss when we’re in an advantage count. Just stripping it down to location and usage stuff, letting him work through that to a point in time. But to be honest, Tampa had a great game plan. You look at their aggression off of him and the pitches we threw in those counts. … I’m not super worried about it.”
Boston manager Alex Cora said shortstop Trevor Story won’t be in the lineup Sunday. Story hit a pair of three-run home runs in Boston’s victory over Chicago on Friday night.
–Field Level Media
