A tight race
(Sports Network) - The Tampa Bay Rays are tied with the Yankees for first place in the AL East standings, and will face the hard-charging Boston Red Sox again tonight in the second of three weekend games from Tropicana Field.
Tonight's tilt is the second of six meetings between these teams between now until the end of the regular season.
Not many American League pitchers have been as dominant as Boston's Clay Buchholz this season, and the 26-year-old righty will be back on the mound tonight. At 15-5 with a 2.26 ERA, many consider Buchholz the current favorite for the AL Cy Young Award.
On Sunday, the young hurler pitched six scoreless innings en route to a victory over Toronto, and he has now gone three consecutive starts without permitting an earned run. It is certainly worth noting that Buchholz is 8-2 on the road this season with a 2.23 ERA.
For his career against Tampa Bay, Buchholz owns a 3-2 mark with a 1.93 ERA, having struck out 38 batters in 37 1/3 innings.
Slated to take the hill for the Rays tonight is Matt Garza, who is 13-7 with a 3.62 ERA through 25 starts. Garza was outstanding on Sunday against Oakland, allowing just one earned run on four hits in 7 2/3 innings of action. He is 7-2 at home this season with a 3.42 ERA.
In 17 career appearances against Boston, Garza is 7-3 with a 3.64 ERA.
On Friday, Jon Lester allowed two hits over seven strong innings and Victor Martinez hit a pair of home runs as Boston downed Tampa Bay, 3-1, in the opener of this series.
Jed Lowrie drove in the other run for the Red Sox, who have taken five of their last six games and are 4 1/2 games off the lead in both the AL East and wild card standings.
Lester (14-8) held Tampa to one run while fanning 10 to erase an uncharacteristic five walks. His one wild pitch was also responsible for the Rays' lone run.
"It wasn't the best command I had, but I made pitches when I had to," Lester said. "And it was nice getting a few runs early on against a good pitcher."
Jonathan Papelbon survived a shaky ninth to record his 33rd save.
Jason Bartlett collected two hits for the Rays, who have dropped two in a row since winning four straight.
David Price (15-6) was charged with 10 hits and three runs over seven full frames, while recording eight strikeouts in defeat.
"It stinks to lose, but we have two more [in the series]," said Price.
Tampa outfielder Carl Crawford was a late scratch with a stomach virus and is listed as day-to-day.
The Rays have won eight of their 13 meetings with the Red Sox this season despite Friday's setback.
