Baltimore @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 18, 2019 ) Baltimore 7, Boston 13

The Boston Red Sox will conclude a disappointing season at home over the weekend, beginning Friday night with the first of three games against the Baltimore Orioles. The Red Sox were mired in third place for nearly the entire season as they struggled to defend their World Series crown and finished their final road trip with a dud, dropping a 7-5 decision at Texas on Thursday.

Boston used eight pitchers in Thursday's setback to finish a respectable 46-35 away from home, but it returns to Fenway Park with a 37-41 mark, clinching the team's worst record at Fenway Park since 2014. Nathan Eovaldi will start the series opener for the Red Sox while Asher Wojciechowski goes for Baltimore. The Orioles' 107 losses are tied for the fourth-most in franchise history, one behind the 1937 St. Louis Browns squad. Baltimore has split its last six games after falling 3-2 in Toronto on Wednesday.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, MASN (Baltimore), NESN (Boston)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Orioles RH Asher Wojciechowski (3-8, 5.31 ERA) vs. Red Sox RH Nathan Eovaldi (2-0, 6.03)

Wojciechowski has not recorded a quality start in his last seven tries, allowing two earned runs in 4 1/3 innings in a no-decision against Seattle on Saturday. He had a virtually identical line in a loss at Fenway Park on Aug. 17, but dominated the Red Sox at home a month earlier with 7 1/3 scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts. The former first-round pick is 2-4 with a 5.35 ERA in seven road starts.

Eovaldi is trying to finish a difficult season on a good note and he posted his second quality start of 2019 with six innings of three-run ball in a win at Tampa Bay on Sunday. He is 1-0 with a 6.35 ERA during a string of seven consecutive starts beginning in the middle of last month. That run began when he was rocked for five runs in two innings against the Orioles on Aug. 18.

WALK-OFFS

1. Red Sox RF Mookie Betts (foot) is expected to return to the lineup Friday.

2. Orioles 2B Jonathan Villar needs one stolen base to reach 40 for the first time since 2016.

3. Boston swept the last three-game series with Baltimore by a combined score of 26-8.

PREDICTION: Red Sox 7, Orioles 5