A pair of second-place teams are about to start a three-game series in Cleveland, with the 14-13 Boston Red Sox taking on the 14-10 Cleveland Guardians on Friday night at 7:10 p.m. The Red Sox are two games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East standings, while the Guardians are just a half game back of the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.<\/p>\n
The Guardians enter having won five of their past six after sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates and taking two of three against the Yankees. They will be sending out Ben Lively to help keep it rolling tonight, and Lively has gotten off to a 1-2 start with a 3.86 ERA. Meanwhile, Tanner Houck (0-2, 7.66 ERA) gets the nod for the Red Sox. Both pitchers have strikeout props of 4.5 at FanDuel Sportsbook, though Lively’s Over and Under are priced at -122, whereas Houck’s Under is a heavy favorite at -158.<\/p>\n
Red Sox star Rafael Devers has the shortest odds to hit a home run in this game at +300, despite being mired in another early-season slump. He started off the campaign by not registering a hit in his first five games and striking out 15 times in those 19 at-bats. He hasn’t gotten a hit in his last five games either, which has dropped his batting average to a current standing of .194. Devers has only two homers this season, with just one in the past 18 games.<\/p>\n
The Red Sox are -113 money line favorites (bet $113 to win $100), according to the latest SportsLine consensus odds, while the Guardians are slight -106 underdogs (bet $108 to win $100). The total is listed at 9 runs, with the Over at -106 and the Under at -114.\u00a0To see expert picks for every top\u00a0MLB\u00a0game, as well as which way the model is leaning after thousands of simulations, make sure to visit SportsLine.<\/p>\n
Now, let’s take a closer look at the SportsLine model’s projections for Friday’s Red Sox-Guardians matchup.<\/p>\n
BOSTON RED SOX at CLEVELAND GUARDIANS\u00a0| 4\/25 | 7:10 p.m. ET<\/strong><\/p>\n Money line Run line Over\/Under<\/strong> Projected score: Red Sox 4.9, Guardians 4.8<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Check out what the SportsLine Projection Model has to say about Friday’s Red Sox-Guardians matchup<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":50875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/strong>Pick: Guardians -106
\nCleveland wins in 51% of simulations, bringing value at these odds<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Pick: Guardians +1.5 (-176)
\nCleveland covers in 67% of simulations, bringing value at these odds<\/p>\n
\nPick: Over 9 runs
\nThe Over hits in 48% of simulations<\/p>\n