Guardians begin 3-game series at home against the Red Sox

Audio By Carbonatix

Boston Red Sox (14-13, second in the AL East) vs. Cleveland Guardians (14-10, second in the AL Central)

Cleveland; Friday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Tanner Houck (0-2, 7.66 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 18 strikeouts); Guardians: Ben Lively (1-2, 3.86 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 19 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Red Sox -113, Guardians -106; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Cleveland Guardians open a three-game series at home against the Boston Red Sox on Friday.

Cleveland is 14-10 overall and 7-2 at home. The Guardians have the eighth-ranked team batting average in the AL at .235.

Boston has gone 6-7 in road games and 14-13 overall. The Red Sox have an 11-3 record in games when they record eight or more hits.

Friday's game is the first time these teams match up this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kyle Manzardo has three doubles, a triple and seven home runs for the Guardians. Steven Kwan is 14-for-40 with two doubles and two home runs over the past 10 games.

Jarren Duran has seven doubles, two triples and a home run for the Red Sox. Alexander David Bregman is 15-for-38 with four doubles and three home runs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Guardians: 6-4, .247 batting average, 4.45 ERA, outscored by five runs

Red Sox: 6-4, .231 batting average, 4.60 ERA, outscored by four runs

INJURIES: Guardians: Emmanuel Clase: day-to-day (shoulder), Trevor Stephan: 60-Day IL (elbow), Lane Thomas: 10-Day IL (wrist), John Means: 60-Day IL (elbow), Shane Robert Bieber: 15-Day IL (elbow), Slade Cecconi: 15-Day IL (oblique), Erik Sabrowski: 15-Day IL (elbow), David Fry: 60-Day IL (elbow), Sam Hentges: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

Red Sox: Richard Fitts: 15-Day IL (pectoral), Connor Wong: 10-Day IL (hand), Zach Penrod: 60-Day IL (elbow), Masataka Yoshida: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Kutter Martin Crawford: 15-Day IL (knee), Lucas Giolito: 15-Day IL (hamstring), Chris Murphy: 60-Day IL (elbow), Patrick Sandoval: 60-Day IL (elbow)

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.