Boston @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 10, 2016 ) Tampa Bay 0, Boston 4

The Boston Red Sox have reached the final stop on their 11-game road trip and hope to keep the pressure on the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East race by picking on the team at the bottom of the division standings. The Red Sox, who sit a half-game behind the Blue Jays in the East, will visit the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday for the opener of a four-game series.

The Red Sox are 5-2 so far on their road trip but come in off a disappointing 10-5 setback that left them with a split in Detroit on Sunday. Boston has taken eight of its last 10 overall and will play a combined 13 games against the Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles next month as the three clubs battle it out for AL East supremacy. The Rays dropped out of that AL East race a long time ago but are trying to have an impact in the playoff chase as a spoiler down the stretch. Tampa Bay won for the sixth time in seven games with an 8-4 thrashing of AL West-leading Texas on Sunday and is averaging 7.9 runs in those seven contests.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), FSN Sun (Tampa Bay)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Red Sox LH David Price (11-8, 4.19 ERA) vs. Rays LH Blake Snell (4-5, 3.06)

Price earned a rain-shortened, complete-game victory at Baltimore on Wednesday, limiting the Orioles to one run and four hits in six innings. That makes two straight wins for the former Cy Young Award winner, who appears to be back in top form after struggling through a winless five-start stretch bridging July and August. Price, who was the No. 1 overall pick by Tampa Bay in 2007, is 2-3 with a 5.11 ERA in six starts against his original franchise but tossed eight scoreless innings against the Rays on July 10.

Snell worked in and out of trouble against San Diego on Tuesday, allowing one run in five innings to earn a win despite scattering five hits and four walks. The rookie has not completed six innings in any of his last four turns but is racking up big strikeout numbers with 26 in 17 1/3 innings over that span. Snell managed to get enough support to earn a win over Boston on June 27, when he was charged with four runs on eight hits and four walks over 5 1/3 frames.

WALK-OFFS

1. Red Sox rookie LF Andrew Benintendi recorded his first major-league triple and home run in Sunday’s 10-5 loss.

2. Tampa Bay 2B Logan Forsythe sat out four games with a back injury but returned on Sunday and homered for the third time in as many starts.

3. Boston C Sandy Leon recorded multiple hits in six of his last nine starts and is batting .386.

PREDICTION: Red Sox 6, Rays 1