The New York Mets will open a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Citi Field in the first meeting between these two teams in Flushing since 2001. This will be the Red Sox's first-ever series at Citi Field.
On Friday night, the Mets will send Matt Harvey to the mound and the Red Sox will send rookie Henry Owens to the mound. The Mets (71-56) are in first place in the NL East and are up by six and a half games while the Red Sox (58-69) are in last place in the AL East.
The Red Sox are in the midst of a lost season after they spent a lot of money on guys like Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez because their pitching has been dreadful all year. Owens so far this season is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA but is coming off his best start when he limited the Kansas City Royals to one earned run in eight innings. Owens was a first-round pick of the Red Sox and a lot is expected out of him.
Owens will have to deal with a raging hot Mets lineup though as they have scored 73 runs during their current seven game winning streak. That is a franchise record for the most runs in a seven game span. The Mets have scored the most runs and had the most extra base hits in the major leagues since the All-Star break and that has all been spurred by the addition of Yoenis Cespedes who has 23 RBI in 24 games as a Met.
Matt Harvey will be on the mound for the Mets after having his last turn in the rotation skipped as the Mets look to limit his innings. This is Harvey's first season back from Tommy John surgery and he looks as though he hasn't missed a beat. Harvey is consistently throwing in the high 90's and is 11-7 with a 2.57 ERA this season.
A player to watch for the Red Sox is Jackie Bradley Jr. who has really come on in August as he is hitting .328 with four home runs and 20 RBI. Bradley Jr. was having a terrible season until the month of August and the former top prospect has worked his way back into the Red Sox future plans. Another thing of note for the Red Sox is that they will be without the DH in this series, so David Ortiz will likely play first base in two out of the three games.
This will be David Wright's first home game since back in April when he went out with a hamstring injury and discovered he had spinal stenosis. Wright returned earlier this week and played three out of four games against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Watch the live stream for the game here or listen to the radio broadcast for the Mets here or the Red Sox here.
