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The Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Guardians square off on Saturday, June 25 with first pitch set for 6:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Josh Winckowski gets the starting nod for Boston while Cleveland will send Shane Bieber to the mound.
The Red Sox (40-31) welcomed Christian Arroyo back to the lineup as he went 3-4 out of the nine-hole on Friday. Boston picked up the 6-3 win with Arroyo knocking a two-run home run in the seventh inning to take the lead. The Red Sox pulled off the in and extended their winning streak to five games. They have scored at least five runs in each win and are playing to their potential. Winckowski will be starting the fourth game of his career. In his last outing, he pitched 6.2 innings and gave up seven hits and two earned runs while striking out 2 to earn the second win of his career.
The Guardians (36-30) remain on top of their division but need to get off their two-game losing streak. It shouldn’t be hard for them as they were 8-2 in their previous 10 games before welcoming Boston to town. Bieber will give them a good chance to win. He will be making his 13th start of the season and Cleveland has won each of his last five outings. Most recently, he pitched 6.1 innings and gave up seven hits and two earned runs while striking out nine on his way to a no-decision.
Red Sox vs. Guardians
Pitchers: Josh Winckowski vs. Shane Bieber
First pitch: 6:10 p.m. ET
Red Sox local broadcast: NBC Sports Boston
Guardians local broadcast: Bally Sports Great Lakes
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Odds, picks & predictions
Run Line: Cleveland -1.5
Run total: 8.5
Moneyline odds: Boston +135, Cleveland -155
Moneyline pick: Boston +135
This is a tough game to predict. On the one hand, you have the Red Sox that are scoring at least five runs per game in their win streak, but you have a rookie making his fourth career start. Bieber has been better over his last five outings even though Cleveland hasn’t been providing great run support. I’m riding the wave and going with Boston to win even with the rook on the mound.
Player prop pick: Josh Winckowski under 3.5 strikeouts
There isn’t a large sample size to work with as he has only pitched in three games so far in his career. He only has four strikeouts in one of them and it was against the Baltimore Orioles. While I think the Red Sox take the win, I don’t think Winckowski fans four batters.
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