The Texas Rangers and the Boston Red Sox will kick off a three-game series at Fenway Park this Tuesday night in a showdown between two division leaders in the American League. Game 1 is scheduled to get underway at 7:10 p.m. (ET), and it will be available on MLB Extra Innings.

Texas comes into this series fresh off a three-game weekend set against Houston in which it won two of three to improve to 35-21 on the year. This was after dropping three of four games to Arizona in last week’s extended home-and-home series of interleague play. The Rangers still lead Oakland in the AL West by two games, and they are 17-13 on the road.

The Red Sox had their hands full with Philadelphia last week in a 2-2 split, but rebounded by winning two of three games against New York in a key AL East matchup this past weekend. They now lead Baltimore by 2.5 games and the Yankees by three games in the AL East. Boston is 17-12 at home this season and 35-23 overall.

Rangers at Red Sox Betting Storylines

Texas came into this season as the favorite to win its division, and so far things have gone pretty much according to script. Its pitching staff boasts the best ERA in the AL at 3.38, and it is ranked third in hitting with a .271 team batting average. The Rangers are scoring 4.66 runs a game, and their lineup has been fueled by players such as Nelson Cruz, Adrian Beltre and Mitch Moreland. Cruz leads the team with 39 RBI and 13 home runs while Beltre and Moreland have combined to knock in another 51 runs. Keep an eye on Beltre’s availability for this game after sitting out Sunday’s game with a sore hamstring.

The Rangers will go with Justin Grimm as their starter for Tuesday night. The right-hander comes in with a 5-3 record in nine starts this season, and he is 3-0 in his last three outings with a 3.32 ERA. He has gone at least six innings in all three of those starts. This will be Grimm’s first career effort against Boston.

The Red Sox rank right behind the Rangers in team pitching with a staff ERA of 3.72, and their bats have been even more potent with an average of 4.98 runs a game that is ranked first in the American League. Boston has been loaded with big bats this season, including none bigger than Mike Napoli, who leads the team with 45 RBI while hitting .274. All told, the Red Sox have seven different players with at least 20 RBI this year.

Ryan Dempster will take the mound for Boston in Game 1 of this series. The right-hander’s fast start in April with a 3.30 ERA deteriorated in May with a 5.51 ERA. Overall, he is just 2-6 this season with an overall ERA of 4.45. He did hold the Phillies to two earned runs on six hits through seven full innings his last time out. This will be his first career start against Texas.

Rangers at Red Sox MLB Betting Odds and Trends

Texas has been opened by BetOnline as +136 road underdogs for Tuesday night with the Red Sox listed as -146 home favorites. The total has been set at 9.5.

The Rangers are 5-1 in their last six games against the AL East and 13-5 in Game 1 of their last 18 series. The total has gone “over” in three of their last five road games.

The Red Sox are 8-3 in their last 11 home games against a right-handed starter but just 9-22 in their last 31 games against a team from the AL West. The total has gone over in five of their last seven games at home.

Head-to-head in this matchup, Texas is 21-8 in the last 29 meetings, including a 5-1 record in the last six games played in Boston. The total has gone over in five of the last eight meetings there. Texas swept the first series between the two this season 3-0 at home by a combined score of 16-4.

Rangers at Red Sox Picks and Betting Predictions

With two of the best-hitting teams in the Majors squaring off against one another, a play on the over actually looks good despite the high line, but stick with Boston to snap its current losing streak to the Rangers at five games with a win on Tuesday night behind another big night from its bats.

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