The Red Sox go for their second sweep in New York this season as Josh Beckett faces CC Sabathia. Beckett leads the AL in ERA at 2.01, due to his low home run rate, 60% lower than his career rate of one per nine innings. Sabathia’s base situation splits show how frustrating he’s been to the opposition. With none on, batters hit .191/.252/.239. With a runner on first base, they hit .406/.423/.464. So if a team can put one man on, CC will give you two for the price of one. Then, with runners in scoring position, those numbers drop to .256/.330/.397. Bend, don’t break.

Second place teams battle in Detroit as Doug Fister and the Mariners take on Justin Verlander. Fister, 3-6 has the opposite record as Verlander, 6-3, despite Doug’s ERA being only 0.25 runs higher. The Mariners score more than four runs in just one of Doug’s starts. The Tigers scored more than four runs in four of Verlanders starts, but the team won three of his other starts.

Finally, the Reds send Johnny Cueto against the Giants and Madison Bumgarner. Cueto lefties and righties are hitting almost the same against Johnny, with a .212 BA against lefties, .213 against righties. Lefties do a better job of getting on base, but right-handers hit for more power. Bumgarner made up for a bad April with a 2.08 ERA since. All seven of his starts since the start of May qualified as quality.

Enjoy!