After a rocky start coming out of the All-Star break, the Red Sox are suddenly streaking again, winners of four straight and six of their last seven. Boston enters Sunday in second place in the AL East, having passed the Yankees both for that spot and for the first wild card position in the American League.
Boston can piece together another sweep with a win on Sunday, having taken down the Astros behind a Roman Anthony walk-off on Friday and homers from Romy Gonzalez, Trevor Story, and Abraham Toro on Saturday.
Broom duties will be handed to Lucas Giolito, who continued the stunning turnaround to his season with six innings of one-run ball against the Twins on Tuesday.
The reloaded Astros, which brought star shortstop Carlos Correa back to Houston in a trade with the imploding Twins at the deadline, will hand the ball to Framber Valdez to try and avoid the sweep. Valdez is having another excellent season with an 11-4 record and a 2.62 ERA for Houston.
It’s an early start on Sunday with an 11:35 a.m. first pitch. Here’s a preview.
Lineups
ASTROS (62-49): Peña SS, Altuve DH, Sanchez RF, Correa 3B, Walker 1B, Diaz C, Trammell CF, Dubon LF, Urias 2B
Pitching: LHP Framber Valdez (11-4, 2.62 ERA)
RED SOX (61-51): Refsnyder DH, Bregman 3B, Anthony LF, Gonzalez 2B, Story SS, Rafaela CF, Toro 1B, Abreu RF, Wong C
Pitching: RHP Lucas Giolito (7-2, 3.80 ERA)
Time: 11:35 a.m.
TV, radio: Roku, WEEI-FM 93.7
Astros vs. Giolito: Jose Altuve 4-14, Carlos Correa 7-26, Yainer Diaz 1-4, Mauricio Dubón 1-3, Chas McCormick 2-9, Jeremy Peña 3-4, Jesús Sánchez 0-3, Taylor Trammell 0-2, Ramón Urías 2-7
Red Sox vs. Valdez: Romy González 2-5, Ceddanne Rafaela 1-3, Rob Refsnyder 1-7, Trevor Story 1-5, Abraham Toro 1-6, Connor Wong 0-2
Stat of the day: Since a disastrous start against the Angels on June 4 ballooned his ERA to 6.42, Giolito 6-1 with a 2.17 ERA over his last nine starts.
Notes: Dustin May, whom Boston acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, was originally scheduled to start Sunday’s game, but his first start with the Red Sox has been pushed back to Wednesday, when Boston will wrap up a three-game home series with Kansas City. … Giolito is 2-6 with a 5.94 ERA in 53 innings over nine career appearances — all starts — against Houston. … Valdez has a 3-1 record and a 1.96 ERA over five career games (three starts) against the Red Sox. He has 24 strikeouts and three walks in 23 innings against Boston. … The Astros have lost seven of their last nine games and five of their last seven series. Houston was 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position Saturday and stranded 14 runners. … Rhode Island native Jeremy Pena returned to Houston’s lineup Friday after being activated from the 10-day injured list but left the game with a cramp in the 10th inning. He did not play Saturday but is expected back in the lineup Sunday. “I think the travel and getting on base a lot [Friday], he cramped up a little bit, but he’s doing OK,” Espada said. “Get him back in there [Sunday].”
Amin Touri can be reached at [email protected].
