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The Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles square off on Sunday, August 21st with first pitch set for 7 p.m. ET in this week’s edition of Sunday Night Baseball. The game will take place at BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. While this isn’t a traditional home game for Baltimore, it is paying tribute to the Little League World Series held in this town each August. The game will be available to watch on ESPN. Boston will send Nick Pivetta (9-9, 4.28 ERA) to the mound while Dean Kremer (5-4, 3.58 ERA) gets the starting nod for Baltimore.
The Red Sox (60-61) dropped the series' first game on Friday but rebounded with a 4-3 win on Saturday. They watched a 3-0 lead start to slip away in the seventh, but a Christian Arroyo RBI double in the ninth ended up plating the difference-making fourth run of the game. Despite being 13 games back of the New York Yankees in the AL East, Boston is only five games back of a Wild Card spot. Pivetta is making his 25th start of the season, and it will be his third against Baltimore. He has combined for 10.1 innings, 11 hits, four earned runs, and 10 strikeouts in his two starts against them so far. Boston will be off Monday, and then when welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to town for a three-game series starting Tuesday.
The Orioles (62-58) have long since lost their momentum from their strong start in the first half of the season. They head into this game 2-3 in their last five games and need a win here to win the series. Kremer will start his 14th game of the season, which will be a career-high. He pitched 5.2 innings, gave up six hits and allowed four earned runs while striking out six the last time he faced Boston. Baltimore will be off on Monday and then host the Chicago White Sox in a three-game set starting Tuesday.
Red Sox vs. Orioles
Pitchers: Nick Pivetta vs. Dean Kremer
First pitch: 7 p.m. ET
Red Sox local broadcast: NBC Sports Boston
Orioles local broadcast: MASN
Live stream: WatchESPN, ESPN app
Moneyline odds: Red Sox -115, Orioles -105
Odds, picks & predictions
Run Line: Red Sox -1.5
Run total: 8.5
Moneyline odds: Red Sox -115, Orioles -105
Moneyline pick: Red Sox -115
Boston is coming into this game with the momentum from a win on Saturday. Pivetta is likelier to turn in a good performance and has a better chance of getting the necessary run support for a win. The Red Sox should leave this game with a win.
Player prop pick: Dean Kremer over 4.5 strikeouts
Kremer has six punchouts in back-to-back starts, one of which was against Boston. He has at least five strikeouts in three of his last five starts and four of his last seven. Kremer should fan at least five batters on Sunday.
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