New York @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 21, 2013 ) NY Yankees 7, Boston 8

The Boston Red Sox are coming off a rough road trip but are still sitting pretty atop the American League East. The rival New York Yankees, who visit Boston for the start of a three-game series on Friday, sit in fourth place but are still hanging around the fringes of the playoff race. Alfonso Soriano and Alex Rodriguez provide an offensive spark that the Yankees lacked in previous meetings with the Red Sox.

Soriano piled up four home runs and 14 RBIs in the last three games and is 10-for-14 in that span after four singles on Thursday. Boston leads the league in scoring but averaged just over three runs in dropping five of their last seven games. The Red Sox, who own a two-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the East, went 4-6 on their 10-game trip and will head back out onto the road for six more games out west after the brief pit stop against the Yankees.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, MY9 (New York), NESN (Boston)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees LH Andy Pettitte (7-9, 4.62 ERA) vs. Red Sox LH Felix Doubront (8-5, 3.66)

Pettitte is winless in his last five starts and could not make it through the fifth inning for the second straight outing against Detroit last week. The veteran allowed only one run but scattered eight hits and three walks over 4 1/3 innings against the Tigers. Pettitte yielded four runs in 6 1/3 frames to suffer a loss at Boston on July 19 and is 7-4 with a 3.98 ERA in his career at the Red Sox.

Doubront had a string of solid performances broken up at Kansas City on Saturday, when he was reached for three runs and walked four in four innings. The Venezuelan needed 98 pitches to get through those four frames and runs into trouble with his command on occasion. Doubront went up against Pettitte on July 19 and got the win, yielding two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks in 6 1/3 innings.

WALK-OFFS

1. The Yankees signed 1B/3B Mark Reynolds on Thursday. He had been designated for assignment by the Cleveland Indians last week.

2. Red Sox DH David Ortiz is 22-for-59 with 11 RBIs against Pettitte in his career.

3. Soriano is a .287 career hitter with seven home runs in 43 career games at Boston.

PREDICTION: Red Sox 5, Yankees 3