PREVIEW: Indians look to hand Red Sox their fourth straight loss behind Carrasco

3) A weakness exposed?

The Red Sox have been far and away the best team in baseball, but August has maybe put some chinks in their nearly impenetrable armor. For starters, no pun intended here, lefty ace Chris Sale has landed on the DL twice this month with shoulder inflammation. And while the team has said it’s more of a precautionary move than anything, it still doesn’t bode well for Boston with the postseason looming. This week has also brought the ball club just their second three-game losing streak of the season. A third-straight loss to Cleveland tonight would make that four – a first for Boston in 2018 – and it would also serve as the squad’s first series loss since mid-June.

August has also exposed a potential weakness with the Red Sox in their recent inability to hit opponents bullpen arms. Boston’s bread and butter all season has been jumping on team’s starters early and cruising to victory, evident by their 60-10 record when scoring first. Facing team’s with deep bullpens, however, hasn’t gone so well. Over their last 18 innings against their opponent’s relievers, Boston has scored just three runs. That includes one run off of Indians closer Josh Allen in the first game of this series. All this doesn’t mean the wheels are falling off for Boston. But late August, into September isn’t exactly the best time for these struggles to rear their ugly head.

 

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