The Boston Red Sox (65-52) bring a four-game winning streak into the first game of a two-game series with the Baltimore Orioles (66-51) on Tuesday at Camden Yards.
The Orioles lead the Red Sox by one game for second place in the American League East, and they are listed as small -108 favorites (bet $108 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark with veteran Yovani Gallardo (4-4, 5.17 ERA) on the hill.
Baltimore is just 15-15 since the MLB All-Star break and opens a key eight-game homestand with this game against a Boston team that has gone 16-14 during the same stretch.
Gallardo is 1-3 in the second half for the Orioles with two no-decisions, both of which eventually resulted in wins. This will be Gallardo’s first home start since July 25, when he allowed two runs and five hits in 6.2 innings of a 3-2 victory against the Colorado Rockies.
Gallardo was a tough-luck loser last time out on the road against the Oakland Athletics, giving up only one run and four hits in six innings of a 1-0 defeat.
The Red Sox will look to 23-year-old southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez (2-5, 5.43 ERA) to try to get them their fifth win in a row after a fairly solid month. Since getting pounded for nine runs and 11 hits in 2.2 innings of a 13-7 road loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, Rodriguez has surrendered three runs or fewer in each of his last six appearances.
Rodriguez’s last victory came on July 16 against the New York Yankees, as he has gone 0-2 with three no-decisions in his past five outings. He pitched great versus the Yankees in his last start on Thursday, allowing one run and three hits in seven innings of an eventual 4-2 loss.
Boston has lost four of the previous five meetings with Baltimore after winning three straight in the series, according to the Odds Shark MLB Database. In the 10 meetings overall this year, the over has a slight edge at 5-4-1.
The Red Sox closed last season with three consecutive shutouts of the Orioles, all of which went under the total.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com