Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox Game 96 Preview, TV, Lineup

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Detroit Tigers (47-48) at Boson Red Sox (42-54) — 7:10 PM ET

Fenway Park — Boston, MA

TV: FSD, MLB Network

Radio: 97.1 The Ticket (click for affiliates)

Weather:  73 degrees, light rain

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When We Last Met

The Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox have not faced each other since June of 2014. In the season series last year, Detroit dominated Boston, going 5-1 and sweeping the Red Sox at Fenway Park last May.

In the sweep at Fenway, the Tigers outscored the Red Sox, 13-3.

Pitching Matchup

There will likely be plenty of scoring in Boston between the Tigers and Red Sox this weekend. Not only does the ball fly out of Fenway during the summer, these two teams will not feature some of their best pitchers in the series.

Detroit will send its struggling right-hander Justin Verlander to the mound on Friday. He is 0-3 with a horrible 6.62 ERA. In three of his six outings this season, Verlander has allowed at least six runs. He last pitched on Sunday against the Orioles, and Verlander didn’t make it out of the fourth inning before yielding seven runs on eight hits, including two home runs.

Former Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello will start for Boston. The Red Sox acquired Porcello from the Tigers in the Yoenis Cespedes trade, and then signed a four-year, $82 million extension. To say he has yet to live up to that contract would be a huge understatement.

Porcello is 5-10 with a 5.79 ERA this season. He has just five starts where he pitched at least six innings and allowed fewer than three runs. Porcello has given up at least six runs in an appearance the same number of times.

Get ready for a long game on Friday.

Detroit Tigers Lineup

1. Ian Kinsler 2B
2. Yoenis Cespedes LF
3. Victor Martinez DH
4. J.D. Martinez RF
5. Nick Castellanos 3B
6. Alex Avila C
7. Marc Krauss 1B
8. Jose Iglesias SS
9. Anthony Gose CF

Injuries