Series preview: Guardians at Red Sox

If you thought the Guardians had a rough weekend dropping a couple winnable games against the White Sox, take a look at the Red Sox. They had a historically bad weekend as their struggles from before the All-Star break continued — and got worse.

They started by dropping Friday’s contest against the Blue Jays, 28-5. That’s a football score, and even then they didn’t even manage a touchdown. After holding the Blue Jays to just four runs on Saturday (but only scoring one themselves and still losing), they lost the finale by a score of 8-4. That brought their three-day total to 40-10.

Now, I figure this four-game series between Cleveland and Boston can go one of two ways. On the good end, the Red Sox’s dumpster fire continues and the Guards get back to the offense that helped them take the first two games of the Chicago series. A couple José Ramírez homers here, a Nolan Jones double there — everyone is happy. On the flip side. Boston had a heart-to-heart Sunday afternoon, figured out their issues, and hit the new work week angry and ready to prove that the Jays series was a fluke. They go nuclear on the Guardians despite a growing list of injuries and get right back into the Wild Card race.

This series is important for both teams for that reason — the playoffs. Ain’t no way the Red Sox are catching the Yankees in their division race, and it’s looking more and more like the Twins are going to keep finding ways to keep the Guardians are at arm’s length in the Central. That will leave the Guardians and Red Sox fighting for a Wild Card spot when October approaches. Cleveland has the edge now by virtue of playing fewer games — both have 48 wins, but the Guardians have only lost 46 to Boston’s 46. They currently sit on the outside looking in — trailing the 51-45 Mariners for the third Wild Card spot — and it’s going to be an uphill battle for the rest of the season.

The series opens tonight with a matchup between Nick Pivetta and Zach Plesac. Tuesday would be Aaron Civale’s spot to go for the Guards, but he’s still on the injured list with a sore wrist and not expected back until August. We can probably expect Kirk McCarty to go there.

Team at a glance

• Record: 48-48 (8th in AL)
• Runs Scored: 440
• Run Differential: -12 (10th in AL)
• Last 10: 1-9
• Slash: .256/.317/.412
• wOBA: .317 (5th in AL)
• wRC+: 102 (7th in AL)
• ERA: 4.28 (13th in AL)
• SIERA: 3.92 (8th in AL)
• K-BB%: 13.9% (9th in AL)

Projected starters

Monday, July 25, 7:10 p.m. ET: RHP Nick Pivetta vs. RHP Zach Plesac
Tuesday, July 26, 7:10 p.m. ET: TBD (RHP Josh Winckowski) vs. TBD (LHP Kirk McCarty)
Wednesday, July 27, 7:10 p.m. ET: TBD (RHP Nathan Eovaldi) vs. RHP Cal Quantrill
Thursday, July 28, 7:10 p.m. ET: TBD (RHP Kutter Crawford) vs. RHP Triston McKenzie

Roster

• 40-man roster
• Depth chart