Hello is good…the Rays are bad v Rightys. I’ll play him to go out in the sixth

Ryan Pepiot will come off of the IL to start against the Red Sox after forgoing rehab outings and instead opting for a 45 pitch bullpen session last Friday. The simulated work was three full innings with an up and down and Pepiot said he feels great so I don’t anticipate much restrictions within his five innings. I say it that way because Kevin Cash said he expects about 5 IP for Pepiot and after the bullpen session, I would imagine about 70 pitches is the deepest he could go here, if not shorter. Getting plus odds to the under 5.5 K's here looks to me like as good a spot to fade a guy in a start we know he will see limited work.

Wednesday, the Boston Red Sox will aim to complete a three-game road sweep over their division rivals in the Tampa Bay Rays. For the Rays their main issue has been at the plate where they have scored two runs or less in three straight games. That’s a tough area to adjust against a divisional opponent, and one that you’re facing for the seventh time in the last ten days. Take the Red Sox to complete the road sweep.

While I get it from a tactical standpoint, I can't believe the Rays intentionally walked Rafael Devers in the eighth inning last night -- first base was open. Man up! It's only May. Pitch to the dude (Tampa was already down) and give him a chance to homer in a seventh straight game. It would not shock me to see a Red Sox pitcher throw at a Rays batter late in this game if it's out of hand either way since the teams don't play again for a long while. They don't like each other as it is. Tyler O'Neill is out of that Boston lineup today. Some urgency for Tampa Bay to snap a three-game skid and avoid the sweep.

Brayan Bello returned from the IL 10 days ago and has two starts since; five innings and 4.2 innings. The latter was a short start because of three home runs and seven hits allowed, on 100 pitches thrown. The 100 pitches is encouraging though, so look for him to, at worst, get enough work to approach the turn from 5th to 6th inning, against a Tampa Bay lineup that's seen offensive production against righties slip down near league-worst over the last few weeks. Boston's bullpen has also been worked good over the last 3-4 games, while each starter actually went over the 15.5 outs line. If Bello is going strong, I'm expecting Alex Cora to stick with allowing his starters to enter the 6th.