HOUSTON – If the Boston Red Sox are smart, they’ll sign Bill “Spaceman” Lee to a contract today for a span of the next 10 days. The Sox and Houston – home of the Johnson Space Center – will play seven baseball games in 11 days, with four coming this week at Minute Maid Stadium in Texas, while three games between Boston and the Astros will be scheduled for June 8-10 at Fenway Park.
Going into this afternoon’s game, the Red Sox (32-20) are four games ahead of Houston (28-24) for the AL Wild Card slot, as Boston trails Tampa (34-20) for first place in the AL East. Houston has won each of the last regular season series between the two clubs but 12 of the last 23 contests were decided by one run.
Boston will start lefty Eduardo Rodriguez (5-3, 5.06 ERA) against Houston’s Jose Urquidy, a righty with a (3-2) record and 3.32 ERA. Overall, Boston starters have thrown 5-or-more innings in 44 games this season, third best in the majors behind the Oakland A’s (46) and LA Dodgers (45). The Red Sox are 15-3 when their starter goes 6+ innings and that was an issue for Rodriguez his last time out when he pitched a season-low 4.o innings against Philadelphia on May 23.
Prior to that start, Rodriguez had a MLB high and career-best of 36 starts going at least 5+ innings. Rodriguez has lost his last three consecutive outings but has received only one run of support in those three games combined.
The Red Sox begin 17 consecutive days of games at Houston this afternoon.