Boston can't beat its division foes, but the Red Sox are 37-19 against everyone else, including 4-0 versus Cleveland. The Guardians have scored a total of eight runs during their current three-game skid and they're 3-10 in their last 13 road games. With Aaron Civale sidelined, the Guardians will use Bryan Shaw as their opener. He has a 5.29 ERA and has never started a game.

The Guardians are in a bit of a tough spot today. Aaron Civale is on the IL and will be unable to start, and the Guardians don’t have anyone healthy on their 40-man roster to call up to take his place. That means the Guardians would most likely have to designate a player for assignment on the 40-man roster, leaving that player available to be picked up by another team. So instead of possibly losing one of their players to add another starting pitcher to the 40-man roster, they will go with a bullpen game instead. Bryan Shaw will open the game but the Guardians bullpen has really struggled in July, ranked 23rd in the league with a 4.74 ERA. Josh Winckowski will come off the COVID IL to start this game for Boston so I don’t think he gets too deep, but that is still an advantage over the Guardians options today. The Red Sox are still missing key players Rafael Devers and possibly J.D. Martinez, but I think they can still score enough at home to win this game.