The Phillies (24-26) are set to begin a four game stretch in which they will face the American League’s Boston Red Sox (31-20). Two of the contests will take place in Boston’s Fenway Park, while the two teams will then head south to play another two games at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park.
Boston has won nine of their past 12 games and are tied for the division lead in the AL East with the Yankees, while the Phillies failed in an attempt to tie the Washington Nationals for second place in the National League East division on Sunday, when they fell by a score of 6-1.
The Red Sox have dominated the Phillies at Fenway, winning eight of the last 10 meetings between the clubs there.
Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups for the two games in Boston and other key stats from this series.
Monday, 7:10 PM. Tyler Cloyd (1-0, 2.70 ERA) vs. Alfredo Aceves (1-1, 8.20 ERA). The 26-year-old Cloyd has a 3-2 record with a 4.27 ERA in eight big league starts. Both of Cloyd’s starts this season have come on the road. Batters are hitting .217 against the righty Cloyd this year. Aceves has appeared in six games this season, three of those were starts. Aceves has thrown 2 1/3 scoreless innings against the Phillies in his career. Aceves, a righty, has a 4.88 ERA in 73 career regular season games at Fenway Park. Michael Young is 3-for-5 in his career against Aceves.
Tuesday, 7:10 PM. Cliff Lee (5-2, 2.48 ERA) vs. Ryan Dempster (2-5, 4.69 ERA). In 12 career starts against Boston, Lee has a 3-5 record along with a 3.81 ERA. On the road this year, Lee is 4-1 with a 1.60 ERA in six starts. Jacoby Elsbury is 1-for-12 (.083 avg) in his career against Lee. In 24 career appearances against the Phils, Dempster has a 5-5 record with a 5.27 ERA. The righty Dempster is 0-3 with a 7.78 ERA in his last four outings. Laynce Nix is 0-for-6 in his career against Dempster.
Left-hander Antonio Bastardo has a 7.20 ERA in five career games against Boston. Bastardo has a 2.00 ERA and a .167 batting average against in 11 road outings this season.
Reliever Mike Adams has thrown six scoreless appearances against Boston is his career. Adams was activated from the disable list on Sunday, after missing time due to a back strain.
Ryan Howard is 4-for-24 (.167 avg) with three doubles in six career games at Fenway Park in his career. Howard is batting .224 with two homers and 15 RBI in 26 road games this year.
In 31 career games against Boston, Jimmy Rollins has a .273 batting average with five home run, 22 RBI and eight stolen bases. Rollins is a .310 hitter with six doubles, a triple and a homer along with 10 RBI in nine career games at Fenway Park.
Boston closer Andrew Bailey has a 1-0 record with four saves and a 1.80 ERA in 10 home games this year and a 1.88 ERA over in 15 games this year. Bailey has one scoreless appearance against the Phils in his career.
Mike Napoli leads the Red Sox in RBI with 37. Napoli is 1-for-9 in his career against the Phillies.
Dustin Pedroia is batting .388 in 27 home games this season. The 29-year-old has a .237 career batting average with two homers and five RBI in 17 games against the Phillies.
Phillies team runs scored- 175 (27 th in MLB) Red Sox team runs scored- 252 (3 rd in MLB)
Phillies team ERA in May- 3.77 (11 th in MLB) Red Sox team ERA in May- 4.12 (19 th in MLB)
