The Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox are playing live on the MLB schedule on Friday night and the AL East series from Fenway Park starts at 7:10 pm ET as the divisional rivals matchup and it has the Sawx in first place just ahead of the Rays and O's and the game has Ubaldo Jimenez and Joe Kelly on the mound for the teams.
The Red Sox have been one of the most impressive teams in the league to start the season and they are 6-3 and in first place in the division. The O's have been solid as well and have won two in a row, while the Sox have won two of three coming in. The team won series against the Yankees and the Nationals and now they are trying to knock down their likely main division rival this season.
Hanley Ramirez has been off to a strong start and the lineup should get a boost, as NESN reports that Pablo Sandoval and David Ortiz will be in the lineup for the team. The team also got back shortstop Xander Bogaerts a couple days ago and now the team faces off against the O's. The team just won two in a row against the Yankees and they won with a rally against the bullpen on Thursday.
The Orioles have played well against the Red Sox in the past couple seasons and now the Sawx have the chance to start off strong against the O's. Both Kelly and Jimenez have been impressive to start the season and that has been big for the teams. Kelly could be the most important part of the rotation for the Red Sox, as he will help depth if he can continue to be effective for the team.
Jimenez signed a four-year, $50 million deal with the Orioles and while he went just 6-9 last season, he has confidence in his game this year. Jimenez got off to a good start with eight strikeouts and no runs in seven innings against the Blue Jays last week and now he has the division leaders in the Red Sox. The team had won just one of five games for a stretch and now they will try and get back on track as they play Boston for the first time this season.
Boston has been scoring runs at home and so far Ramirez has been excellent, while Sandoval comes in looking to come back after getting hit with a pitch. Those players were the big signings for the team this offseason and Sandoval has pretty good numbers coming in against Jimenez.
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