Detroit @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 19, 2013 ) Detroit 2, Boston 5

The Boston Red Sox left the Detroit Tigers just short of the World Series last October, taking the American League Championship Series in six games before knocking off the St. Louis Cardinals for the title. The Tigers will try to take some small measure of revenge when they visit the Red Sox for the start of a three-game series on Friday. Detroit owns the best record in the AL at 24-12 while Boston is enduring a slower start at 20-20.

The Tigers enter the series with a three-game winning streak after polishing off a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles with a 7-5 victory on Wednesday as Miguel Cabrera enjoyed his fifth straight game with at least one RBI. The reigning two-time MVP had a miserable ALCS while battling injuries and got off to a slow start in 2014 but has picked it up with 16 RBIs in the last nine games. Boston slugger David Ortiz, who hit a memorable home run in Game 2 of the ALCS that send Torii Hunter tumbling into the bullpen at Fenway Park, smashed two home runs in each of the first two games in Minnesota but the Red Sox suffered a pair of walk-off losses and ended up 3-3 on the road trip.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, NESN (Boston)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Max Scherzer (5-1, 2.04 ERA) vs. Red Sox LH Jon Lester (4-4, 2.75)

Scherzer took a no-hitter into the sixth inning against Boston in Game 2 of the ALCS before Ortiz’s grand slam off Joaquin Benoit made the Red Sox winners, and he took the loss in the clinching game when Shane Victorino belted a grand slam off Jose Veras. The reigning Cy Young winner has had little trouble shaking off that disappointment in 2014 and has gotten the win in five straight starts while posting a 1.64 ERA in that span. Scherzer is 2-4 with a 7.02 ERA in eight career regular-season starts against Boston.

Lester was on the tough side of a 1-0 shutout in Game 1 of the ALCS but earned a win with 5 1/3 strong innings in Game 5 before enjoying a dominant World Series. The 30-year-old struck out a career-high 15 while allowing one hit in a win over Oakland on May 3 and followed that up with seven solid innings in a win at Texas last weekend. Lester is 2-2 with a 4.63 ERA in seven career regular-season starts against Detroit.

WALK-OFFS

1. Red Sox LHP Andrew Miller surrendered the walk-off hit in both losses at Minnesota after going five straight appearances without allowing a hit or a walk.

2. Detroit DH Victor Martinez is 8-for-19 with a pair of home runs in the last five games.

3. Boston CF Jackie Bradley Jr. is 0-for-8 with three strikeouts in his last two games to drop his average to .205.

PREDICTION: Tigers 3, Red Sox 2