Guardians vs. Red Sox prediction and odds for Saturday, April 29 (Back Boston's Lefties to Have a Big Day)

The Cleveland Guardians haven’t exactly been an offensive juggernaut so far this season, but with some great pitching for Shane Bieber yesterday, they were able to get a 5-2 win over the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of this weekend series. That leaves the Guardians at 13-13 and drops the Red Sox under .500, 13-14. 

The Guardians will look to claim the series win today and possibly set up a sweep with Zach Plesac on the mound. Boston counters with Brayan Bello. Plesac is 1-1 with a 6.50 ERA while Bello is 0-1 with a 9.82 ERA. 

The Sox are the favorites at Fenway Park today, so let’s get into the odds for Game 2. 

Boston and Masataka Yoshida specifically have been very hot swinging the bats lately, but last night that fire was quickly extinguished by Shane Bieber on the mound.

Yoshida did manage a hit and Jarren Duran had three, but they could only scratch across three runs. They should have some more success against Zach Plesac today. 

Plesac does not strike guys out, 14.9% strikeout percentage, the lowest of his career, and when he gets hit this year he gets hit hard, 91.3 average exit velocity, the highest of his career. It has not been a good start for the Guardians starting pitcher and a lot of that has to do with left-handers crushing him. 

Plesac has allowed a 1.057 OPS to lefties this year and opponents are slugging 1.100 off of his changeup which he almost exclusively throws to left-handed hitters.

The Red Sox lineup is chock full of lefties ready to do damage against Plesac. Yoshida has been hot, but so has Alex Verdugo, and Rafael Devers is the best hitter on the team. The Sox should have a lot of success in this one, even if Bello isn’t very trustworthy on the mound. 

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change