Chicago @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 1, 2014 ) Chi. Cubs 2, Boston 1

The Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs entered the week among the worst offensive teams in the majors and have done little to prove otherwise in the first two games of the series. The Red Sox will attempt to score more than one run for the first time in the series and avoid a sweep when they host the Cubs in the finale of the three-game set on Wednesday. The teams have totaled five runs in the first two contests, but four of those have gone to the visitors.

Boston’s struggling offense has scored three or fewer runs in 14 of its last 17 games and nearly was no-hit by Jake Arrieta in the opener before losing 2-1 on Tuesday. Chicago is not filling Fenway Park with hits either but got the two it needed in the ninth inning on Tuesday from Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro before Luis Valbuena’s sacrifice fly pushed across the go-ahead run. The Cubs got strong starting pitching in each of the first two games as Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon refused to bend in the eighth and ninth, respectively.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, ESPN, WCIU (Chicago), NESN (Boston)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cubs LH Travis Wood (7-6, 4.52 ERA) vs. Red Sox RH Brandon Workman (1-1, 3.27)

Wood has not allowed more than three earned runs in any of his last five starts but fought his control against Washington on Thursday by issuing five walks in 6 2/3 innings. The 27-year-old is on pace for a career high in walks as he has issued 39 in 95 2/3 total innings. Wood never has faced Boston and was lit up in his last start against an American League team, allowing eight runs in four frames at the Chicago White Sox on May 7.

Workman keeps doing enough to convince the Red Sox to keep him in the rotation as he worked a season-high seven innings at New York on Friday. The Texas native did yield a pair of home runs in that outing – doubling his season total – but could not get any support in a game Boston lost 6-0. Workman is 2-0 with a 2.65 ERA in four home games (two starts).

WALK-OFFS

1. Red Sox 3B Xander Bogaerts is 6-for-73 in his last 20 games.

2. Chicago CF Junior Lake is 0-for-6 with six strikeouts in the series.

3. Boston started an all-rookie outfield for the first time since 1987 on Tuesday, when Brock Holt, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. took the field together.

PREDICTION: Red Sox 3, Cubs 1