It has been a good week for both the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.
The American League East rivals will look to build on recent sweeps as they collide for the first time this season, opening a four-game series on Thursday night in Boston.
Amid their teams’ momentum, two starting pitchers who are quite new to their roles are set to take the mound. Boston interim manager Chad Tracy will hand the ball to rookie left-hander Jake Bennett (1-0, 1.80 ERA) for only his second career start, while Tampa Bay will have right-hander Griffin Jax (1-2, 5.14) continuing his recent transition from the bullpen.
Bennett made a solid first impression on Friday, earning a 3-1 victory after holding the Houston Astros to a solo home run and stranding six of his seven baserunners across five innings.
That game also marked Tracy’s managerial debut at Fenway Park. (The Red Sox fired Alex Cora as manager on April 25.)
“There’s comfort with that for me, for sure, because I know the kid,” Tracy said of Bennett, who also began the season at Triple-A Worcester. “I know him better than anybody here as far as watching him and what he’s capable of doing.”
Tracy’s club bounced back from a 1-4 slump to win three games in a row, completing a road sweep of the Detroit Tigers with a 4-0 victory on Wednesday. It was Boston’s fifth shutout of the season, which ties for the most in baseball.
While a pair of two-run innings and just four total hits got it done in the Detroit finale, the first two games of the series featured a one-run win and a 10-run outburst. The Red Sox are 6-4 under the new skipper.
“Just try to keep being as consistent as possible,” third baseman Caleb Durbin said. “As a lineup, we’re working really hard, and we expect a lot of ourselves. This series was great, but it’s on to Tampa Bay.”
The Rays, however, will present a tall task, having banked consecutive three-game sweeps against the San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays during a six-game homestand before arriving in Boston. Their five series sweeps are the most in MLB this season.
“It’s a really fun place to work right now,” starting pitcher Shane McClanahan said after his 5 2/3-inning start in a 3-0 win over Toronto on Wednesday. “I come into the field each day, and I’m like, ‘Man, I’ve got a lot of my friends just hanging out, and we’re gonna go to war for each other.’ I can’t say enough good things.”
Complete baseball has been the key to Tampa Bay’s recent run of 12 wins in the last 13 games. Not once during that stretch have the Rays allowed more than three runs.
With such dominant pitching and defensive play, the runs do not need to come in bunches.
On Wednesday, Jonny DeLuca’s fourth-inning RBI double was all the Rays needed vs. the Blue Jays. The center fielder has 10 RBIs and 10 runs since April 8.
Jax will look to keep the line of strong pitching moving in his third straight start since moving into the rotation, though he is 0-1 with a 7.27 ERA in 14 career appearances (one start) against the Red Sox.
After allowing 11 runs (eight earned) across 11 relief appearances to start the season, Jax has been sharp since helping the Rays’ injury-depleted staff in a starting role, pitching five innings of shutout, two-hit ball over two starts.
“They’re on a good run, no doubt,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said of his team. “They’re setting the bar really high for themselves, and they should all be feeling pretty good about how individually they’re contributing.”
