Red Sox-Blue Jays features great pitching matchup Saturday (lineups and more)

BOSTON — In the second game of a three-game series between the Red Sox and Blue Jays, fans will be treated to a pretty good pitching matchup Saturday afternoon.

Boston’s Sonny Gray and Toronto All-Star Dylan Cease will face off in a battle of two of the American League’s best pitchers so far this season. The Red Sox, after having their 15-game winning streak snapped Wednesday night against Baltimore, rebounded to win Friday and have now won 21 of their last 24.

Gray, who said he was “rusty” in his last start Sunday against Tampa Bay, still allowed just one earned run in six innings despite walking four batters. The veteran has a stellar 10-0 with a 1.94 ERA in his last 13 starts dating back to May 6. Cease, who has had a strong first year in Toronto after signing a big free agent contract over the winter, was an All-Star for the third time.

Offensively, the Red Sox will use an identical lineup to the one that scored six runs off Trey Yesavage and Toronto’s bullpen Friday. Second baseman Anthony Seigler is in the leadoff spot after a four-hit showing in the win. Andruw Monasterio is the shortstop over Tsung-Che Cheng and is hitting eighth. Connor Wong is catching for the second straight day with Gray on the mound.

The Red Sox have faced Cease twice so far this year and are 1-1 against him, having tagged him for four runs and seven hits in 5 ⅔ innings on April 27 and Toronto and then striking out seven times in five shutout innings in Boston on June 16. Gray allowed three earned runs and struck out four batters in seven innings against the Jays on June 18 in a Red Sox loss.

First pitch is at 4:10 p.m. ET.

• Related: Stream the Red Sox live on NESN via FuboTV or DirecTV Stream

TORONTO BLUE JAYS (47-57) vs. BOSTON RED SOX (53-49) · FENWAY PARK · BOSTON, MA · GAME 103

FIRST PITCH: 4:10 p.m.

TV CHANNEL: NESN

RADIO: WEEI 93.7 FM

PITCHING PROBABLES: RHP Dylan Cease (6-5, 2.67 ERA) vs. RHP Sonny Gray (12-1, 2.48 ERA)

RED SOX LINEUP:

1. Anthony Seigler 2B
2. Ceddanne Rafaela CF
3. Wilyer Abreu RF
4. Willson Contreras 1B
5. Masataka Yoshida DH
6. Caleb Durbin 3B
7. Jarren Duran LF
8. Andruw Monasterio SS
9. Carlos Narváez C

BLUE JAYS LINEUP:

1. Nathan Lukes RF
2. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 1B
3. Kazuma Okamoto 3B
4. George Springer DH
5. Daulton Varsho CF
6. Ernie Clement 2B
7. Yohendrick Piñango LF
8. Andrés Giménez SS
9. Brandon Valenzuela C

Read the original article on MassLive. Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here.