Thursday, May 15, 1:10 PM on NESN

Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Boston Red Sox - Buchholz, C (2-3) vs. Minnesota Twins - Hughes, P (4-1)

For Updated Odds on This Game Click Here

On Thursday, the Boston Red Sox will travel to Target Field to face the Minnesota twins in the final game of this three game series. The Red Sox will put Clay Buchholz on the mound to face Phil Hughes of the Twins.

Buchholz took a beating on Friday when he faced the Texas Rangers. Over 4.1 innings he allowed six earned runs on 10 hits, while giving up two walks and striking out three. It was a season high in hits allowed for Buchholz and tied his worst earned run total of the year. Buchholz has been a roller coaster this year pitching extremely well at times and then having outings like this during other times. It’s starting to look like he may not be the pitcher he was during the first half of 2013 but he’ll have an opportunity to turn it around on Thursday. Buchholz owns a 2-3 record with a 6.44 ERA.

Current Twins batters are hitting .276 when facing Buchholz with nine doubles, a home run, and seven RBIs. Joe Mauer has played well against Buchholz going 5-for-13 with five hits, three doubles and an RBI. Buchholz will also have to be careful when facing Kurt Suzuki is 6-for-12 against him with a double and two RBIs.

The Twins will put Phil Hughes on the mound and he’s coming off a very strong game in which he pitched seven shutout innings allowing eight hits and getting three strikeouts. He didn’t get much help from the offense but it was enough to win as they beat the Detroit Tigers 2-1 raising Hughes’ record to 4-1 with a 3.92 ERA. It was his fourth win in a row and he’ll be looking to stretch that to five on Thursday.

Boston hitters are hitting .311 when facing Hughes and have nine home runs over 37 hits as a team. David Ortiz is 9-for-22 against Hughes with two home runs and seven RBI’s while Dustin Pedroia is 8-for-28 with three home runs and nine RBIs.

Hughes is pitching well but he’ll have to keep it going against a Red Sox team that has played well against him.

Boston Red Sox Betting Trends

Boston Red Sox are 13-22-2 against the Over/Under

Run Differential for Boston Red Sox is -0.1

Minnesota Twins Betting Trends

Minnesota Twins are 22-13-1 against the Over/Under

Run differential for Minnesota Twins is -0.2

Injuries to Watch

Boston Red Sox

05/12/14 3B Will Middlebrooks Hand questionable
04/09/14 P Steven Wright Hernia 60-day DL (3/21)

Minnesota Twins

05/08/14 RF Sam Fuld Concussion 7-day DL (5/8)
05/03/14 P Mike Pelfrey Groin 15-day DL (5/1)
04/11/14 LF Josh Willingham Wrist 15-day DL (4/7)
04/09/14 RF Oswaldo Arcia Wrist 15-day DL (4/5)

Josh's Pick: Take Minnesota

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