BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox will aim for a four-game series win against the Chicago White Sox when they host their traditional Patriots’ Day game on Monday morning.
Boston won 10-3 and 4-3 in the first two games of the set, the latter coming in 10 innings. But the club wants to bounce back from an 8-4 loss Sunday in which it was shut out over the final seven frames — and got three of its runs on Wilyer Abreu’s first-inning homer — while allowing six over the final three.
“It’s baseball, that’s the way I see it,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “They’re got good arms, just like everybody else, and you’ve got to play 27 outs.”
Boston has been on the wrong end of three of Chicago’s five wins this season.
Similarly, it has been an uneven start to the Red Sox career of Walker Buehler (2-1, 5.23 ERA), but he enters Monday following back-to-back solid outings, including a win at Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
In that outing, Buehler held the Rays to two runs on three hits across the first five innings of a 7-4 victory.
Sunday marks Buehler’s first career start against the White Sox, and the Boston newcomer knows that he has plenty of offensive firepower supporting him despite being held to just six hits on Sunday.
“I think we have five, six, seven guys that can have a day like (Alex Bregman) did (in my last start) and win us a game,” Buehler said. “That’s kind of what you’re looking for — that depth. Not depth in terms of, like, ‘Oh, they could get a hit today,’ but depth of guys that can take over a game.”
Rookie second baseman Kristian Campbell has quickly become a key part of that attack, going 2-for-4 with his fifth double. He’s reached base in 20 out of 21 games.
Chicago will be looking to start new streaks on Monday, having snapped a six-game skid and an 0-8 start on the road Sunday in the come-from-behind victory.
Andrew Vaughn had the biggest hit on Sunday, going 2-for-5 with a two-run homer in the eighth inning.
“These guys have been working so hard,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “We talked about it, the game — sometimes it doesn’t reward you and you have to just keep going. And that’s the mindset these guys have. That’s something everyone in the building is embracing, and it’s nice for it to pay off (on Sunday).”
After Massachusetts natives Shane Smith and Sean Burke took the ball in the two weekend games for Chicago, Jonathan Cannon (0-2, 4.42) will get a fifth crack at his first win of the season Monday. It will be the first start against Boston of his young career, though he threw three scoreless innings of relief in a win over the Red Sox last year.
The 24-year-old took a no-decision Wednesday despite striking out four and allowing just three hits over 4 1/3 shutout innings against the Athletics.
“He did a good job attacking the zone,” Venable said of Cannon in his last start. “He was able to put guys away and end at-bats. The little trouble he got into, he was able to work through.”
It was Cannon’s second scoreless start this season. Sandwiched in between, though, were two losses in which he allowed nine combined runs.
Just over a year ago, Cannon made his MLB debut. There has been plenty for Cannon to learn in the time since.
“The learning curve in (the majors) has been great,” Cannon said. “It’s been a lot at once … but just trying to take the blows and get better every outing.”
–Field Level Media