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The Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers will open up a four-game series Thursday night at 8:05 p.m. ET. Martin Perez will get the start for Boston, while Kyle Gibson will be on the mound for Texas. We’ll go over some ideal picks on DraftKings Sportsbook centered around the game here.
Boston Red Sox vs. Texas Rangers, 8:05 p.m. ET
Moneyline pick: Red Sox -118
The Red Sox are coming into Game 1 of this four-game set on a three-game winning streak. Boston defeated the New York Mets, who had Jacob deGrom on the mound Wednesday night, 1-0. The Red Sox are only averaging 2.67 runs in their last three games, which is below their season average of 4.88.
But the Red Sox haven't needed much offense as their pitching (both bullpen and starters) has done a tremendous job with a 1.33 ERA in the last three games. Perez will try to keep that momentum going against the Rangers. The 30-year-old has a record of 0-1 and ERA of 5.71 in four starts this season. The former Rangers pitcher went 3.2 IP in his last start against the Seattle Mariners on April 23. As for Gibson, he has a record of 2-0 with an ERA of 2.30. In his last start against the White Sox, the 33-year-old pitcher allowed two walks, one earned run, and struck out five in 6.0 IP. The Rangers have lost four out of their last five games and been outscored by an average of 2.75 runs per game.
Player Prop: Martin Perez O4.5 strikeouts (-113)
The Red Sox will be turning over the ball to Martin Perez, who will look to piggyback off the recent performances from Nick Pivetta and Garrett Richards. Perez has 15 strikeouts in 17.1 IP through four starts season. He has only gone over 4.5 strikeouts once this season, which was the season opener against Tampa Bay (6). However, he’s facing a Rangers’ offense that leads the majors in strikeouts per game with 10.52. But in their last three games, Texas is only averaging nine strikeouts, which isn’t bad. With this prop being at even money, its not a bad play to put some coin on it.
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