The Red Sox (17-2) look to win their ninth straight game when they face the Oakland A’s (9-11) tonight (9:05 p.m., NESN) behind Chris Sale.
About tonight’s game: You can’t predict baseball, but you’d be forgiven if you had doubts about Oakland’s chances tonight. Sale (1-0, 1.23 ERA) is Chris Sale, and while Sean Manaea (2-2, 1.63 ERA) is good, he’s not Chris Sale. The Red Sox have won nine games in a row and the A’s aren’t too good, is what I’m saying.
J.D. Martinez is back for the Sox and hot-hitting Mitch Moreland is out of the lineup, with Sandy Leon and Tzu-Wei Lin swapping into their respective positions, but otherwise everything is normal.