The Boston Red Sox are certainly looking much improved after an offseason of major spending following a disappointing 2014 season. The American League team is off to a nice 7-5 start, but continue to falter against the Baltimore Orioles who appear to love playing at Fenway Park. Coming off a loss to the team on Sunday, can the Red Sox muster up a win on Patriots Day?
The Orioles continue their dominance in Boston as the Red Sox have drooped seven of their last 10 home games against the team. Now they are trying to avoid their first series loss of the season after Rick Porcello gave up eight runs in five innings thanks to home runs by Adam Jones and Ryan Flaherty. Those two players have found great success at Fenway. Jones is 8 for 14 with five RBIs while on a stretch hitting .571. He has 35 RBIs in his career at Fenway. The Red Sox are hoping to get some momentum going, motivated by Patriots Day, just two years after the Boston Marathon bombing.
Justin Masterson will get the start on Monday and needs to improve after his last season at Fenway. He looked great in six innings at Philadelphia, but struggled in his home debut giving up seven runs and 14 base runners in just over four innings of play. The Red Sox still got the win over Washington, but it was in no thanks to their starting pitching.
The Orioles will start Wei-Tin Chen who is looking for his first win of the year with a 4.35 ERA. He struggled against Tampa Bay, failing to go five innings, but he bounced back against the Yankees, giving up just two runs in six innings. He has been inconsistent against the Red Sox in his career. Chen has a 5.26 ERA in nine starts, but has lowered it to 4.24 in his last two outings against the team. Dustin Pedroia has the most success against Chen while Hanley Ramirez will aim to improve.
