Rangers vs. Red Sox Betting Line – May 20
Carrie Stroup here with your Rangers vs. Red Sox betting line for May 20 courtesy of our friends at Sportsbook.ag.
Sportsbook.ag Line: Boston -162, Texas +147, Total: 8.5
The Boston Red Sox will look to get back to .500 when they host the Texas Rangers Wednesday night in Fenway.
The Rangers are in somewhat of a transition phase right now as they begin to look for a new identity and come into this contest with losses in five of their last seven games. Surprisingly, all but one of those came when at home as they split a series against the Royals in four games and then lost 2-of-3 to Cleveland before heading to Boston on Tuesday and losing the first of three games by a score of 4-3. The offense for Texas was a mere 2-for-9 with RISP and could not overcome the early four-run deficit despite making it interesting with a leadoff homer in the ninth. Another multi-hit performance from 1B Prince Fielder brought his average to .348 and he is 15-for-40 (.375) with three bombs and nine RBI in the last 10 games.
Boston’s been wildly inconsistent as their pitching struggles, but do enter this one after going 6-3 since May 10th. A majority of those victories came on the road as the generally poor pitching excelled, giving up 2.2 runs per game in the wins. The defeat of the Rangers in the first game of this series can be attributed to the phenomenal job by the top of the lineup as the first four batters went 9-for-19 with three of the four runs scored. OF Hanley Ramirez (.276) was huge in April with 10 HRs and 22 RBI, but over 14 games played in May (54 AB), has yet to leave the yard or record an RBI.
Making his first Major League start will be RHP Phil Klein (0-0, 7.71 ERA) for the Rangers as he hopes to outduel RHP Joe Kelly (1-2, 5.58 ERA) for the host Red Sox. Texas has actually been quite solid on the road, splitting its 20 games (10-10) as they attempt to keep Boston under .500 at home where they are 8-9 thus far.
These clubs have nearly split their victories against each other since the start of 2013 with Tuesday’s win by the Red Sox pushing their record to 7-6 in the matchup. They are 5-2 at home during that time, though, and took 2-of-3 games the last time they were here.
Trends show that Boston is a poor 25-45 (.357) when the total is 8.5 to 10 in the past two seasons as the Rangers have gone a putrid 25-49 (.338) when the total opened in the nine to 9.5 in the same span.
Texas is still waiting for the return of OF Josh Hamilton (Shoulder) as he does well in the minors and also has 2B Jurickson Profar (Shoulder) out for the entire season. The catching position has been depleted for the Red Sox as both Cs Ryan Hanigan (Hand) and Christian Vazquez (Elbow) are missing.
Klein, a former 30th-round pick from the 2011 amateur draft, has spent parts of the past two seasons in the Texas bullpen and just recently began starting at triple-A. He has been a big strikeout pitcher in the past as a reliever, regularly striking out double-digit batters per nine innings at every stop in the minors and mowed down 23 batters in his 19 Major League frames last year. Over six games (2 starts) with the team’s triple-A affiliate this season, he has a miniscule 1.69 ERA (1.06 WHIP), but has really struggled with control (6.2 BB/9) and has gone no longer than 4.1 innings in either of his two starts.
He will get a potent Boston offense in his first start and has the tough task of facing 2B Dustin Pedroia (.280), who is having another fantastic year with seven doubles, five HRs and 15 RBI. On the other side of things, Klein may get some relief when 1B Mike Napoli (.174) comes to the plate as he has seen his power decrease in each of the past five seasons and has just eight extra-base hits on the year.
The relievers for the Rangers have gone 6-6 with a poor 4.58 ERA (1.37 WHIP) and are a meager 6-for-14 (43%) in save chances. The team has said they will begin to use matchups in the ninth after Neftali Feliz (5.51 ERA, 6 saves) blew three of his nine save chances and gave up 10 runs in 16.1 frames.
Kelly certainly has the raw stuff to be a Major League starter, but unfortunately it has not translated into success in 2015 as he’s walked too many batters (4.0 BB/9) and allowed plenty of homers (1.12 HR/9). His average fastball sits at a blistering 96.5 MPH this year and that has aided him in raising his strikeouts to 8.0 K/9, but he had just five in his last two outings (12 IP), walking 10 batters in that period. Kelly has allowed five or more earned runs in four of his seven starts, but was able to limit the damage in a decent effort (6.1 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 K) at Seattle last week.
He has never earned a start against Texas in his young career and while the real threat in its lineup is 1B Prince Fielder, both 3B Adrian Beltre (5 HR, 15 RBI) and OF Shin-Soo Choo (6 HR, 17 RBI) have been productive. On the other hand, 2B Rougned Odor (.144) has struggled at the dish with strikeouts in 24.3% of his at-bats while OF Leonys Martin (.198) has also had issues with his average but has scored 12 runs and has six stolen bases.
The bullpen for Boston has gone 7-5 with a 3.72 ERA (1.32 WHIP) and is 10-for-16 (63%) in save opportunities. Koji Uehara (2.08 ERA, 10 saves) has one blown save this season and the run given up in Tuesday’s game was his first since April 25th (7.2 IP).
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
