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Blue Jays host Red Sox on Friday night
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 4/8/2016  at  1:28:00 PM
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BOSTON RED SOX (1-1)

at TORONTO BLUE JAYS (2-2)

First pitch: Friday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: Boston +155, Toronto -170, Total: 8.5

The Blue Jays will be looking to prevent a three-game losing streak when they host the Red Sox on Friday.

Boston opened the year with a two-game set against Cleveland and the teams split victories in those contests. The Red Sox have been hitting the ball pretty well to open the year, though. They have scored six runs in each of their first two contests and they’d be extremely satisfied if they can reach that number again on Friday. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, have now lost two straight after opening the year 2-0. They faced the Rays in a four-game series and will now be hoping to snap out of their recent funk with a win over the Sox. Over the past three seasons, Boston has had no trouble taking care of the Blue Jays in Toronto. The Red Sox are 11-9 when facing the Jays at Rogers Centre. Taking the mound in this game will be RHP Joe Kelly (10-6, 4.82 ERA, 110 K in 2015) for the Red Sox and RHP Marcus Stroman (4-0, 1.67 ERA, 18 K in 2015) for the Blue Jays. It’s worth noting that the Blue Jays are 11-3 with Stroman on the mound against division opponents over the past three seasons. OF Josh Donaldson (Calf) is questionable for this one.

Joe Kelly has not yet started a game this season and he also happens to be making his first ever career start against the Blue Jays on Friday. He does not need to do anything too spectacular for this team, so it’d be wise if he doesn’t overdo it. Boston would be more than happy with a quality start or something close to it, so that should be the goal in this one. Some guys to keep an eye on in this game are 2B Dustin Pedroia (.291, 12 HR, 42 RBI IN 2015), OF Brock Holt (.280, 2 HR, 45 RBI in 2015) and DH David Ortiz (.273, 37 HR, 108 RBI). Pedroia has been solid against Stroman in his career, going 4-for-7 against the pitcher. He has a double and an RBI against Stroman and will need to get it going on Friday. Holt is 4-for-14 against Stroman in his career, but he is on fire to open the season. He has gotten two hits in each of the first two games and he also happened to have hit a homer on Wednesday. Ortiz, meanwhile, is always dangerous at the plate and he has already homered twice this season. He’ll be looking to go yard once again in this game.

Marcus Stroman already has one start under his belt this season and he looked really sharp in that game. Stroman faced the Rays on Apr. 3 and was able to pitch eight innings of three-run ball. He struck out five batters in that game and will be hoping to find some success against the Red Sox in this one. He’ll just need to avoid any major mistakes, as Boston has plenty of players that are capable of hitting the cover off of the ball. Offensively, the Jays can use a big game from both DH Edwin Encarnacion (.277, 39 HR, 111 RBI in 2015) and OF Jose Bautista (.250, 40 HR, 114 RBI in 2015). Both guys are homerless on the season and that is not going to last much longer. They are some of the best power hitters in the league and they’ll be looking to take advantage of Kelly on Friday.


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