The Boston Red Sox (74-72) vaulted back out of last place in the AL East earlier today, taking the first game of this Thursday doubleheader against the rival New York Yankees (73-73) by the score of 5-0. Now Boston will look to salvage a split of this rain-soaked four-game set — and keep their faint AL Wild Card hopes alive — in the night cap, with first pitch from Fenway Park set for 7:15 p.m. ET. New York will send righty Clarke Schmidt to the mound, while the Red Sox will use reliever Nick Robertson as an opener ahead of what figures to be a bullpen game.
Boston enters as -118 favorites on the moneyline at DraftKings Sportsbook, with New York at -102. The run total is set at 9.5.
Yankees-Red Sox picks: Thursday, September 14
Injury report
Yankees
Out: RP Ian Hamilton (right groin strain), OF Billy McKinney (left lower back spasm), SP Nestor Cortes (left rotator cuff strain), RP Albert Abreu (hamstring), 1B Anthony Rizzo (concussion), RP Kenyan Middleton (shoulder), SP Luis Severino (oblique)
Red Sox
Out: INF Pablo Reyes (elbow), SP/RP Corey Kluber (shoulder), SP James Paxton (knee), RP Joely Rodriguez (hip)
Starting pitchers
Clarke Schmidt vs. Nick Robertson
Amid a ton of rotation dysfunction in New York, Schmidt has been a quiet anchor, allowing three or fewer runs in 24 of his 28 starts this season. He’s been especially good against Boston, holding them to one run over 5.1 innings in early June and then striking out eight in 5.2 innings of two-run ball a few weeks ago. (Both of those starts came at Yankee Stadium, however.)
Acquired from the Dodgers in the trade that sent Enrique Hernandez to L.A. back in late July, Robertson will be making his fifth appearance and first start with his new team. The righty did throw 47 pitches over three innings back on August 8, so Alex Cora could look to use him for multiple innings tonight, but he’s thrown just one inning in each of his three other appearances. This will likely be a bullpen game for Boston, with recently recalled lefty Brandon Walter (0-0, 7.20 ERA) an option to handle the middle innings.
Over/Under pick
We’re just going to keep hammering these unders until something changes. Both New York and Boston have struggled at the plate of late, and we haven’t seen a total higher than five throughout this series. The haziness surrounding the Red Sox’ pitching plans this evening give us a bit of pause, but New York hasn’t scored more than five runs in its last eight games; this is a mediocre offense right now, especially with Jasson Dominguez out and Aaron Boone wanting to give his young players as many at-bats as possible down the stretch. With Schmidt rock-solid on the other side, I’m expecting another relatively low-scoring affair.
Pick: Under 9.5
Moneyline pick
Boston is the more desperate team here, but Schmidt is far easier to project than whatever assembly of arms Alex Cora cobbles together tonight. The Yankees righty has been solid all year, especially against the Sox, and at relatively even odds I’d much rather put my money on him than Walter or whoever else winds up taking the bulk of the innings for Boston.
Pick: Yankees -102
