First pitch: Sunday, 7:10 p.m. ET
Line: N/A, Total: N/A

David Price and the Red Sox will be hoping to pick up a Sunday night victory over the Dodgers.

The Red Sox have extremely high hopes this season and they’ll have a very good test in their Sunday night meeting with the Dodgers. Both teams look like they are likely to make the postseason and it wouldn’t be crazy if they ended up facing one another in the World Series. With that being said, both teams have an excellent opportunity to prove what they are made of on the national stage on Sunday. This game will feature a very intriguing pitching matchup, as LHP David Price (9-7, 4.30 ERA, 156 K) is going to be on the mound for Boston and RHP Brandon McCarthy (2-2, 3.07 ERA, 35 K) will be hoping to keep things close for Los Angeles. While the Red Sox seemingly have the edge in this pitching battle, Price has severely underperformed this season and McCarthy is a guy that is capable of shutting down his opponent when he is on his game. He is, however, on an innings limit and that could affect this one.

David Price has not lived up to his contract with Boston, but there is still a lot of time for him to turn things around. Price will see a number of starts to finish out the year and a few good outings in a row could really help the Red Sox forget how poorly he started the year. He has been a bit better as of late, allowing just four earned runs in his past 15.0 innings of work. Price struck out a total of 11 batters in those games and walked just one. He’ll need to keep things up with his control, as it’s big for him to keep free base-runners at a minimum. Price will, however, need to do a better job of avoiding contact. He has allowed seven or more runs in eight of his past 10 starts and that simply isn’t going to cut it for a guy that is considered elite in this league. Offensively, the Red Sox will be counting on some solid performances from guys like 3B Aaron Hill, 2B Dustin Pedroia, 1B Hanley Ramirez and DH David Ortiz. The four of them are a combined 17-for-49 with two homers and 13 RBI against the pitcher. Assuming they are all in the lineup, they should be able to produce at the plate on Sunday.

Brandon McCarthy started his year on a positive note for the Dodgers, but he has run into some trouble in his past two outings. McCarthy has pitched just seven total innings in those starts and the Dodgers need him to start working deeper into games. The issue last game was his control, as McCarthy walked five batters in his three innings of work. If he cannot throw strikes in this game then there’s a chance he gets yanked early once again. For the Dodgers, guys like 1B Adrian Gonzalez and SS Corey Seager are going to need to step it up in this one. Gonzalez is just 3-for-21 against Price in his career, but he is one of the best hitters that Los Angeles has and needs to find a way to figure out Price in this one. Seager, meanwhile, doesn’t have experience against Price, but he will also be counted on by the Dodgers in this one. He has been incredible in his first full season in the league and could make a huge statement by playing well on this stage on Sunday.