First pitch: Friday, 7:10 p.m. ET
Line: Boston -110, Los Angeles +100, Total: 8.5

The Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox meet at Fenway Park for the start of a weekend series on Friday night.

The Angels have been flirting around the .500 mark all year and they have recently been able to get over the hump with a 10-5 record in their last 15 games. They have won or split each of the last five series and recently took 2-of-4 games in Toronto to start the week. L.A. was outscored 23-17 in the split and was unable to win the series after an 8-4 loss on Thursday. The offense had limited opportunities to score, going 2-for-5 with RISP as three of the four runs came from the long ball. OF Mike Trout (.295) has continued to play at an elite level and was 5-for-10 with a double, HR and five runs in the last three contests. Boston has not given itself much of a chance this year with its inconsistent play and has lost four of its last six games coming into this matchup. They were unable to do much of anything against the lowly Texas Rangers, losing 2-of-3 games and scoring a meager six runs in the process. The final game was a 3-1 defeat as the Red Sox were 0-for-6 with RISP and failed to back a solid outing by starter Clay Buchholz (7.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 4 K). It will be RHP Garrett Richards (3-2, 2.29 ERA) that gets the call for the Angels in this matchup as he goes against RHP Rick Porcello (4-2, 4.26 ERA) of the host Red Sox. With Thursday’s loss, Los Angeles saw its road record move to .500 (11-11) as it faces this Boston group which is a poor 8-11 when playing at home. The Angels have gotten the best of this opponent recently, winning 8-of-13 games since the start of 2013 and are a solid 5-2 in Fenway Park. Last time they visited here they took 3-of-4 games as the Red Sox scored a total of eight runs. Trends show that Boston is a putrid 26-47 (.356) at home when the total is 8.5 to 10 in the past two seasons as Porcello’s teams are 17-6 (.739) in the first half of the season when he starts in the same timeframe. The injury report has 1B Albert Pujols (Wrist) as questionable for the Angels while 3B Pablo Sandoval (Knee) is questionable and Cs Ryan Hanigan (Hand) and Christian Vazquez (Elbow) are out for the Red Sox.

Richards has been phenomenal through his first six starts of the year with 36 strikeouts in 39.1 IP (8.2 K/9) and a 2.29 ERA. He has done this despite showing some shaky control (3.9 BB/9) as he is giving up a mere 0.23 HR/9. The 26-year-old is getting away with batters hitting a mere .220 BABIP as he has let just 2.8% of his fastballs leave the park. He has not allowed more than three runs in any of his outings this year and has given his team at least six frames of work in all but his first start. He’s pitched against the Red Sox six times (2 starts) in his career, going 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA (1.80 WHIP) with a poor 11:6 K/BB ratio in 13.1 innings. In the two starts he has totaled eight innings, giving up five runs (3 ER) with a hit given up per inning. No one on Boston has more than seven at-bats against the righty, but 1B Mike Napoli (4-for-7, 1 double, 1 HR, 3 RBI) has been great in the limited time as OF Brock Holt is hitless with two strikeouts in six at-bats. The bullpen for Los Angeles is 6-5 with a 3.30 ERA (1.14 WHIP) and are 14-for-21 (67%) in save chances. Huston Street (2.55 ERA, 14 saves) continues to impress and has pitched six straight scoreless innings with two hits allowed and an 8:0 K/BB ratio coming into this game.

The Red Sox grabbed Porcello with high hopes and thus far it has been a mixed bag with his four most recent showings being impressive. In that time he has pitched 25.2 innings, allowing six runs on 23 hits with a 21:5 K/BB ratio. Boston was 4-0 during that time and signs are looking good for the 26-year-old as he is striking out a career-high 7.8 batters per nine innings and continues to show solid control (2.3 BB/9). He’s had 11 starts against the Angels in his career, going 4-4 with a bloated 6.52 ERA (1.53 WHIP), but did great in two outings against them last year, totaling 14 IP and giving up two runs (1 ER) on 10 hits in that time. OF Mike Trout (5-for-15, 1 HR, 6 RBI) has hit the righty hard, but SS Erik Aybar and OF Matt Joyce have combined to go a mere 7-for-38 (.184) with seven strikeouts. The relievers for the Sox are a combined 7-5 with a 3.62 ERA (1.32 WHIP) and have successfully converted 10-of-16 (63%) of saves. Koji Uehara (2.08 ERA, 10 saves) has just one of the blown saves and has given up one run on two hits with a 9:2 K/BB ratio in his last 8.2 innings of work.