The Boston Red Sox and the Arizona Diamondbacks meet Friday in MLB action from Chase Field. The Red Sox are coming off a series versus the Angels this week. Boston lost all three of those games. As for Arizona, they played the Phillies in their last set and won two of three. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox didn’t have any luck versus the Angels this week, losing the opener 2-1 and game two 4-0. In the finale Wednesday Boston’s losing streak continued with a 7-3 result. Starter James Paxton put up 3.0 innings with five earned on four hits and three walks.

As the starter for Friday’s game, the Red Sox will send out Chris Sale. Over his nine starts this year Sale is 4-2 with a 5.01 ERA and 62 Ks in 50.1 innings. Sale is 118-77 with a 3.09 ERA in 332 career games (252 starts).

Arizona Diamondbacks

Over on the Arizona side, they beat the Phillies 6-3 Monday and 4-3 in game two. The Diamondbacks couldn’t complete the sweep however, falling 6-5 in the finale. Arizona’s Zac Gallen finished with 5.2 innings, two earned, five hits and two walks in the start.

In the starting role Friday, Arizona will go with Brandon Pfaadt. Over four starts this year (the first four of his career), Pfaadt is 0-1 with a 7.65 ERA and 14 Ks in 20.0 innings total.

The Red Sox are 53-19 in their last 72 interleague road games and 58-26 in their last 84 versus the NL West. Boston is 1-4 in their last five in game one of a series.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks are 4-1 in their last five overall and 7-2 in their last nine versus the AL East. Arizona is 15-6 in their last 21 after a loss.

ANDREW’S FREE PICK

I’ll take a stab on the Red Sox here. Sale has been pitching pretty well lately. Over his last three starts combined, he’s 2-0 with six earned on 13 hits and three walks in 21.0 innings of work. Boston will need to get the bats going to help out, however. The Sox have scored one run or fewer in three of their last four games. As for the Diamondbacks, they’ve scored four or more runs in five straight games and will probably post a decent number here as well. I like this one to be competitive and fairly high-scoring in a close Sox victory.