Yankees-125
Red Sox vs. Yankees Free MLB Picks and Odds Breakdown (Archive)
Here we are a little more than a third of the way through the season, and we’re just now seeing MLB scores include the classic rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.
Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees
Saturday, June 05, 2021 – 7:15 PM EDT at Yankee Stadium
Both sides were chasing the Tampa Bay Rays entering Friday’s series opener, Boston two games behind in second with New York 4½-games back in third. Each team was in a bit of a mini-slump going into the weekend, the Red Sox dropping four of their last five contests while the Yankees have lost five of seven.
Saturday’s skirmish gets prime-time treatment from the big FOX, and features a couple of starting pitchers who have been struggling to find consistency in their repertoires. Boston manager Alex Cora hands the ball to Eduardo Rodriguez (5-4, 5.64), and New York’s Aaron Boone puts his trust in Jameson Taillon (1-4, 5.10). Early numbers at the best online betting sites have the Yankees -125 chalk with a 9-run total that leans ‘under.’
Scoring Has Been a Recent Issue for the Beaneaters
Boston managed to escape Houston without being broomed by the Astros, winning Thursday’s series finale by a 5-1 count. The five runs the Red Sox scored in the victory was one more than the total plate crossing they experienced in dropping the first three games of the set. The last nine games have seen the Red Sox score just 27 times, with nine of those runs coming in a single game against Atlanta a little more than a week ago.
That perfect 4-0 record and 3.52 ERA in April seems like a long time ago for Rodriguez. Maybe June will see him get back on track after a horrible May during which Rodriguez failed to throw a quality start and ended on a 4-start losing streak. The latest L was Monday in Houston where the Astros pounded the southpaw for seven hits and six runs before chasing him in the fifth as a slight favorite on the betting odds.
Rodriguez missed all of 2020, making Saturday his first start against the Yankees since September 2019. He’ll be looking for his first win at Yankee Stadium since 2016, going 0-3 with a 5.28 ERA in six assignments since then. Rodriguez has done a great job holding Aaron Judge in check, the New York slugger 3-for-20 (.150) with seven walks and no home runs.
Bronx Bombers Averaging Just 2.4 RPG Last 10
New York settled for a split with Tampa Bay to open this homestand, unable to cut into the Rays’ lead in the division. The first three games were close affairs, the Yankees winning two of those before Tampa Bay touched up New York ace Gerrit Cole in a 9-2 final to close the series on Thursday.
While he cut his ERA down by nearly two runs in May, Taillon still hasn’t come close to filling the rotation spot opened up when Masahiro Tanaka left. His strikeout rate is second only to Gerrit Cole’s among the starters, but his WHIP is the highest of the group and Taillon owns just one quality start among his 10 trips to the mound. He wasn’t all that bad this past Monday against the Rays (6 IP, 3 ER) and he didn’t get much support, but it still ended in a 3-1 setback as -130 chalk at Bovada, leaving the Yankees 4-6 in Taillon’s assignments.
This will be his first taste in the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, and just Taillon’s second time to face Boston in any uniform. The other came in the second game of the 2017 season for the Pirates, Taillon throwing seven shutout innings at Fenway Park, a contest the Red Sox walked-off by a 3-0 score in the 12th.
Yanks Have Won 25 of Last 32 Encounters
It really wasn’t much of a rivalry during the truncated 2020 schedule when New York won nine of the 10 matchups, missing out on a season sweep when Boston took the last meeting between the two. The Yankees showed up as favorites on the BMR Odds in each matchup, totals splitting down the middle overall and going 3-4 O/U in the Bronx. During the more ‘normal’ 2019 campaign when the fixture included the clubs playing two in London, New York won 14 of the 19 clashes, totals running 3-6 O/U at Yankee Stadium.
Rain that hit the NYC area on Friday will have moved on by Saturday’s game, leaving clear skies for the rest of the weekend. The game time forecast calls for temps in the upper-80s with a 10-12 mph breeze from the WSW (out to left-center. The bulk of Taillon’s ERA is the result of his only three starts away from Yankee Stadium this year. Rodriguez’s struggles in recent seasons at Yankee Stadium make this an easy free MLB pick on the New Yorkers.
MLB Pick: Yankees -125 at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.