The Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox will meet on the field at Fenway Park on Thursday in a battle of division rivals.
The Rays will give the ball to ace starter Scott Kazmir in this one. Lefthander Kazmir is 13-8 this season with a 3.67 ERA.
Kazmir's opponent in this one will be Daisuke Matsuzaka. The Red Sox righthander has a 2.86 ERA to go along with a 19-3 record this season.
Oddsmakers currently have the Red Sox listed as 153-moneyline favorites versus the Rays, while the game's total is sitting at 9.
Willy Aybar homered and drove in five runs on Tuesday to lead the Rays to an easy 13-4 win over the Red Sox in Game 4 of this series.
The Rays got the win as +127 road underdogs in that contest, while the combined score went well OVER the night's posted total (9).
Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria also homered in that win for Tampa Bay. Andy Sonnanstine gave up three earned runs over 7 1-3 innings.
Tim Wakefield was knocked around for five earned runs in 2 2-3 innings for the Red Sox. Kevin Cash homered off Sonnanstine in the third.
Team records:
Tampa Bay: 97-65 SU
Boston: 95-67 SU
Tampa Bay most recently:
When playing on Thursday are 5-5
After playing Boston are 9-1
After a win are 7-3<\/p>\n
Boston most recently:
When playing on Thursday are 3-7
After playing Tampa Bay are 3-7
After a loss are 6-4
A few trends to consider:
Tampa Bay is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Boston
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Tampa Bay's last 5 games when playing Boston
Tampa Bay is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Tampa Bay is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Boston's last 5 games when playing Tampa Bay
Boston is 18-7 SU in its last 25 games when playing at home against Tampa Bay
Boston is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games
Boston is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games at home<\/p>\n