Tampa Bay Rays (24-12, second in the AL East) vs. Boston Red Sox (16-21, fifth in the AL East)

Boston; Thursday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Rays: Griffin Jax (1-2, 5.14 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 14 strikeouts); Red Sox: Jake Bennett (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, three strikeouts)

LINE: Red Sox -120, Rays +101; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Boston Red Sox host the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday to begin a four-game series.

Boston has a 16-21 record overall and a 6-10 record in home games. The Red Sox are 10-5 in games when they did not allow a home run.

Tampa Bay is 10-8 in road games and 24-12 overall. Rays hitters are batting a collective .254, the fifth-best team batting average in MLB play.

The teams meet Thursday for the first time this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Wilyer Abreu has a .299 batting average to lead the Red Sox, and has six doubles, a triple and five home runs. Ceddanne Rafaela is 13 for 40 with a home run and six RBI over the past 10 games.

Yandy Diaz leads the Rays with a .318 batting average, and has three doubles, a triple, five home runs, 13 walks and 22 RBI. Jonathan Aranda is 14 for 35 with a home run and eight RBI over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Red Sox: 6-4, .247 batting average, 2.83 ERA, outscored opponents by six runs

Rays: 9-1, .247 batting average, 1.20 ERA, outscored opponents by 18 runs

INJURIES: Red Sox: Roman Anthony: day-to-day (wrist), Danny Coulombe: 15-Day IL (cervical spasms), Patrick Sandoval: 60-Day IL (elbow), Ranger Suarez: day-to-day (hamstring), Justin Slaten: 15-Day IL (oblique), Garrett Crochet: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Kutter Crawford: 15-Day IL (wrist), Triston Casas: 60-Day IL (knee), Johan Oviedo: 60-Day IL (elbow), Romy Gonzalez: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Tanner Houck: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Rays: Steven Matz: 15-Day IL (elbow), Gavin Lux: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Ryan Pepiot: 60-Day IL (hip), Joe Boyle: 15-Day IL (elbow), Edwin Uceta: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Steven Wilson: 60-Day IL (back), Manuel Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (elbow), Mason Englert: 15-Day IL (forearm), Michael Grove: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.