GAME #89, BOSTON RED SOX AT TAMPA BAY RAYS

[Bear]

RED SOX V RAYS

SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2017, 1 PM AT TROPICANA FIELD

TV:  NESN, FOX SPORTS SUN

BOSTON, (50-38)..............................................................................................TAMPA, (46-43)

BOSTON:

DAVID PRICE, LHP, 4-2, 4.02 ERA, 45K

Price didn't allow a run during a start for the first time this year on Tuesday
vs. the Rangers.  Price gave up six hits, but he held Texas scoreless as Boston raced
out to an early lead.  Price struck out nine batters as well.

TAMPA:

CHRIS ARCHER, RHP, 7-5, 3.95 ERA, 139K

Archer's last outing was a special one, as he made not only his eleventh quality
start of the year, but also tallied his first career hit and RBI.  The Rays have won four
of Archer's last five starts, while he's gone at least six innings in his last nine.

Old 'family' to face off in Price-Archer duel

Connor Mount

Former Rays teammates Chris Archer (7-5, 3.95) and David Price (4-2, 4.02) will share the same mound for the second time in their careers Sunday.

The only other time Archer and Price squared off came when Price was with the Blue Jays in 2015. A matchup of top pitchers turned into a 10-8 slugfest won that day by Toronto. Price received the win by lasting five innings while giving up four earned runs. Archer was tagged for nine earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Now Price will oppose Archer for the first time with the Red Sox. Price made four starts against the Rays last year in his first season with Boston, but never against Archer. He shut down Tampa Bay in his last two outings, combining for 16 shutout innings with 18 strikeouts and only six hits allowed.

Archer said he is excited to face off against a mentor who helped show him how to take care of his body between starts in order to handle the heavy-innings workload Archer craves.

"I'm obviously focused on that lineup, but to be able to … square off against the teacher is always fun," Archer said. "It's like [James] Shields was a grandpa, Price is the dad, and I'm one of the sons in the trio, in the line."

THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS GAME

• Price had his first scoreless outing of the season in his last start. In beating Texas, he struck out nine over six innings while holding the Rangers to six hits.

• Archer has completed at least six innings in his last nine starts, a streak that ties his career high. His 116 1/3 innings pitched rank fifth-highest in the Majors.

• Archer had lost 11 consecutive decisions to the Red Sox before besting them on the road April 14. It was his first win against Boston since September 2012.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170708241204094/old-family-to-face-off-in-price-archer-duel/?game_pk=491421

[Bear]

One more before break.

Betts RF,
Pedroia 2B,
Bogaerts SS,
Moreland 1B,
Benintendi LF,
Ramirez DH,
Bradley Jr. CF,
Vazquez C,
Lin 3B,

Price.

[Bear]

This is going to be another nail biter....our offense needs to show up. sigh

[Bill-806]

As DAD would say,  "SON, as Jimmy Dolittle said in the early days of WWII, "VICTORY GOES TO THOSE WHO WANT IT THE MOST, WANT IT THE LONGEST"....The SOX need todays game really bad, lets see who shows up ??  thumb_u rofl iono slap

[Bill-806]

One more before break.

Betts RF,
Pedroia 2B,
Bogaerts SS,
Moreland 1B,
Benintendi LF,
Ramirez DH,
Bradley Jr. CF,
Vazquez C,
Lin 3B,

Price.

  I like this lineup, Beni in between  Moreland & Han/Ram !! thumb_u

[ipot]

This is going to be another nail biter....our offense needs to show up. sigh

Yup.  Archer is no slouch.  And after yesterday's snoozefest, they need to find a way to score a few early and give Price a lead to work with.

[Schloicka]

Hard to score a lot of runs when Betts and a few other as a whole have stunk up the road trip. Sure he has 9 RBI in the 9 games we have played so far on the trip but 8 of those were in 1 game. So in the other 8 games he has 1 RBI. Plus over the last 7 games he's only hitting .212. Not good. Moreland is only hitting .208 the last 7 days with no RBI. Xman is hitting .167 with 2 RBI the last 7 days. Haney on the other hand who seems to be uninterested at times has hit .290 with 4 RBI. If Moreland isn't going to hit use Travis for a while.

Then we have all the talk of needing a 3rd baseman (which long term we may) but right now between Lin and Marrero they are hitting .378 between them. Marrero at .438 and Lin at .318 over the past 7 days with 5 RBI between them. The Sox are about 23-13 (something close to that anyway) when Marrero starts. The team has hitting problems and right now they are at 1st base, right field and short stop. If the team is to win consistently those guys need to pick it up.

[Schloicka]

Nice start to the game for Betts & the Sox.

[Schloicka]

Price gives the run right back. 1-1 after 1 inning.

[markj]

Is that LOBster I smell?

[markj]

Xman K's on 3 pitches where 2 were outside the strike zone. And yes, that was LOBster alright.

[Schloicka]

Pedroia has looked bad in both at bats so far. Was hoping he would make up for yesterday when he grounded out to shortstop 4 times.

[Schloicka]

Why don't the Sox get lucky hits like that? Ball is past the hitter and he just barely gets the bat on it and it goes down the 3rd base line for a double moving the runner to 3rd who ended up scoreing on a sac fly. Was the big hit of the inning. 2-1 TB after 3 innings.

[Schloicka]

If Hanley had gone 1st to 3rd on JBJ's soft single he would of scored on the caught foul ball down the right field line. And he knew he should of been on 3rd.

[Schloicka]

Nobody wants to get a hit with a runner on base.