The Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox meet Saturday in MLB action from Fenway Park. This will be the second matchup in a three-game series over the weekend. In the Friday opener, the Orioles took a blowout victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.

Baltimore Orioles 

The Orioles had a good series versus the Angels this week, taking a sweep with three victories. In a 10-3 win Wednesday Baltimore got seven RBI from Anthony Santander and Austin Hays. In Friday’s matchup versus Boston, Baltimore scored four runs in both the sixth and ninth innings on the way to a big 11-2 win. Adley Rutschman had three RBI, two hits, two runs and a homer along the way.

As the starting pitcher for the Saturday matchup, the O’s are sending out Jack Flaherty. In his 25 starts this year Flaherty is 8-8 with a 4.84 ERA and 135 strikeouts over 134.0 innings. Flaherty is 1-2 with a 6.66 ERA in his last five starts. 

Boston Red Sox 

Over on the Red Sox’ side, they played the Rays this week and lost two of three games. Boston’s Connor Wong provided the lone RBI in a 3-1 defeat Wednesday. In Friday’s matchup, the Red Sox had just four team hits and couldn’t score outside the sixth inning. Wong had two hits with a solo homer in the losing effort. 

Chris Sale will take the mound for the Red Sox in Saturday’s matchup. Sale is 6-3 with a 4.46 ERA and 101 Ks in 82.2 innings over 16 starts. Sale is 2-1 with a 3.62 ERA over his last seven starts, striking out 39 over 32.1 innings. 

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’ll stay with Boston here. Sale is coming off a nice win over Kansas City with 5.0 clean innings, two hits and two walks. Sale had given up seven earned over his previous 9.2 innings, though. As for Flaherty, he’s had some struggles lately with 14 earned runs in 13.1 innings over his last three starts on 17 hits and six walks. This game could get out of hand on the scoreboard if neither starter is on point. In Friday’s game, the Red Sox had a couple of rough pitching performances and the offense couldn’t provide much support. Still, I like Boston to bounce back in game two behind Sale.