First pitch: Friday, 7:10 p.m. ET
Line: Boston -125, New York +115, Total: 9

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox look to reunite a once fierce rivalry when they start a three-game set on Friday night.

It didn’t look good for the Yankees when they opened the season 3-6, but have since won each of their last four series and now lead the AL East by a game. Their pitching is what has aided them most in the victories as they’ve allowed a mere 2.2 runs per game in the last 10 contests and gave up a total of six runs in the 2-1 series win over the Rays to begin the week. New York nearly pulled off the sweep on Wednesday when it went into extra innings, but couldn’t get it done in a 3-2 loss after 13 innings. Each team had seven hits in the game, but it was the Yanks inability to get hits with RISP that hurt them, going 0-for-5 in those situations as they earned both of their runs from solo homers. OF Jacoby Ellsbury (.321) has been a perfect leadoff man and in his last seven games is 12-for-27 (.444) with six runs and five stolen bases. As New York’s pitching has brought them to the top of the division, Boston’s staff has hurt them and they are 3-5 since April 22nd while allowing 54 runs (6.8 runs per game). They have twice allowed double-digit runs over the last two series, but did show some solid pitching in the rubber match against Toronto on Wednesday when they were victorious by a score of 4-1. The three pitchers combined to strikeout 10 Blue Jay batters and allowed a mere three hits as the offense managed nine hits. OF Hanley Ramirez (.293) had a great first month with his new team, hitting 10 balls out of the park, including five in the last six outings, and plated 22 runs. Looking to pitch their teams to a win in this one will be LHP C.C. Sabathia (0-4, 5.96 ERA) for the visiting Yankees as the Red Sox send RHP Justin Masterson (2-0, 5.16 ERA) to the bump. This rivalry has been well documented and it has been Boston who has a slight 22-19 edge (.537) while going an even 9-9 at Fenway Park in the past three years. In the first series between these clubs on the season, the Red Sox won 2-of-3 games, but let New York leave with a big 14-4 win in the final contest. Trends show that Boston is a mere 25-40 (.385) at home when the total is 8.5 to 10 over the past two years as the Yankees are 1-9 in games played on a grass field with Sabathia pitching since the start of last season. The only injury that could have an impact on this game is to OF Shane Victorino (Hamstring) of the Red Sox who is on the 15-day DL.

The once dominant Sabathia has seen his velocity drop from 94.1 MPH in his first full season with the Yanks (2011) to the 89.4 MPH that he is averaging in 2015. He has not adjusted well to the change and has seen his ERA rise each year as the fastball loses steam and has his ERA once again over five after posting a career-worst 5.28 number last year. He did have a career-high 9.4 K/9 and an impressive 2.0 BB/9, but couldn’t keep the ball in the park with the opposition getting 1.96 HR/9. Sabathia’s already allowed four homers in his first four starts (25.2 IP) and has left only 59.2% of runners on base. The big lefty has not done well in his career against Boston and is 11-14 (12-19 team record) with a 4.98 ERA (1.37 WHIP) as he’s struggled with control (14 BB) in his last four meetings (24.1 IP). He’s had plenty of experience against a few of these Red Sox players as 2B Dustin Pedroia (16-for-59, 3 doubles, 3 RBI, 15 K) has had some success against him while both 1B Mike Napoli (9-for-35, 2 doubles, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 10 K) and DH David Ortiz (15-for-64, 3 doubles, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 16 K) have hit for power. New York’s bullpen has been one of the best in the league as they’ve gone 5-3 with a 1.75 ERA (0.96 WHIP) and are 9-for-10 in saves. Andrew Miller (0.00 ERA, 8 saves) has been amazing in his new closers role with a 20:4 K/BB ratio and three hits allowed in 11.1 innings.

Masterson had some solid seasons when he left Boston and went to Cleveland, getting double-digit wins from 2011-2013 and twice posted an ERA better than 3.50. His control suffered in 2014, though, as he walked 4.8 batters per nine innings and in turn saw his ERA jump to a bloated 5.88 despite using his sinker to keep his GB% at 58.2. He’s given up three or fewer runs in three of his first four starts this year and has less than a hit allowed per inning as Boston is 3-1 when he toes the rubber. Masterson has gone 4-4 (4-5 team record) with a 3.70 ERA (1.34 WHIP) in his starts against New York over his career and has lost each of his last two matchups against them when he has had six each of strikeouts and walks with 12 runs allowed over 8.1 frames. Both C Brian McCann (4-for-6) and OF Carlos Beltran (2-for-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI) have had success in limited at-bats facing the righty, but many of the Yankees have struggled against him with SS Stephen Drew, OF Jacoby Ellsbury and 1B Mark Teixeira combining to go a mere 7-for-47 (.149) with 12 strikeouts. The relievers for the Red Sox have not done all that well, going 5-3 with a 4.03 ERA (1.35 WHIP) and are a meager 4-for-8 in save opportunities. Koji Uehara (2.84 ERA, 4 saves) has one blown save in his five chances as he has shown his usual amazing control with an 11:0 K/BB ratio in 6.1 innings.