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Red Sox-Blue Jays Pitching Matchups: At Least Rodriguez Starts On Sunday

BOSTON (CBS) -- With their season teetering on the brink of total collapse, the Boston Red Sox welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to Fenway Park for a three-game series on Friday.

Boston has split their season series with the Jays so far this season, taking two of three at Fenway and dropping two of three north of the border. But the Sox return home after getting swept out of Baltimore, and their continued fall in the AL East (and the American League for that matter) has led to many fans losing hope on the season.

Not to mention, one of their ineffective starters had an animated argument with the manager Thursday night. This Red Sox season is getting real ugly, real fast, and John Farrell must be wondering if anyone is actually listening to him anymore.

But there is some hope for this upcoming series. Well, not much hope, but there is a reason to watch one game in this series. On Sunday afternoon, Eduardo Rodriguez will make his fourth Major League start. In his three starts so far, he's allowed just one run in 20.2 innings.

As for the other two games, well... just make sure you enjoy your weekend. Here are the pitching matchups for the upcoming series at Fenway:

Friday, June 12 -- 7:10pm
Drew Hutchison (5-1, 4.91 ERA) vs. Joe Kelly (2-4, 5.40 ERA)

Kelly toes the rubber Friday night looking to build off just his second win of the season. He tossed six innings of one-run ball during Boston's three-game sweep of the A's, his second straight one-run outing.

The problem with Kelly is it's either feast of famine with him. He's allowed just one or two runs in five of his 10 starts, but has given up five or more runs in each of his five other starts -- with two of those coming against the Jays. In his two starts against Toronto, Kelly has allowed 11 earned runs in 11.2 innings.

Meanwhile, despite his 5-1 record, Hutchison has been as inconsistent as anyone this season. In other words, he would fit perfectly into the Boston rotation. He was once 3-0 on the season despite having a 6.69 ERA, but has had a decent stretch over the last month to get that just below 5.00. That stretch began with five innings of one-run ball against the Sox on May 9 -- two weeks after he surrendered six runs in four innings in Boston.

His last time out, Hutchison went 6.1 innings and allowed just one run in a 7-2 win over the Houston Astros.

Saturday, June 13 -- 1:35pm
R.A. Dickey (2-6, 5.35) vs. Clay Buchholz (3-6, 4.07)

The roller coaster that is Clay Buchholz's season continues. The question is, are we on a rise to the top or one of those fast plunges to the bottom?

After pitching an absolute gem with eight shutout innings against the Twins on June 2, Buchholz lasted just 4.2 innings against the lowly Athletics his last time out, allowing four runs off 10 hits in the eventual Boston win. Buchholz has not won two straight decisions all season, a trend he'll look to end on Saturday.

It was a mixed bag for Buchholz in his two starts against the Jays this season. He gave up four earned in 2.2 innings back on April 28 at Fenway, a Boston loss, but picked up his second win of the season a few weeks later when he allowed three runs over 6.1 innings in Toronto.

Dickey is also having his troubles this season, coming in with the worst ERA among Toronto's starting staff. In 13 innings against Boston this year, the knuckleballer has allowed 10 runs on 16 hits, including three homers.

Sunday, June 14 -- 1:35pm
Marco Estrada (3-3, 3.78) vs. Eduardo Rodriguez (2-0, 0.44)

If you choose just one game to watch during this series, Sunday afternoon is the pick. Sure, it'll be pretty nice out in Boston, but rookie Eduardo Rodriguez is one of the few reasons to watch this team at this point. Pretty soon, he may be the only reason.

Rodriguez is on a tear to start his Major League career. After picking up wins in each of his first two starts, he kept Baltimore scoreless for six innings his last time out, earning a no-decision in Boston's 1-0 loss. Though he struggled during that start, he showed off his ability to get out of jams. After allowing the first two runners to reach in the bottom of the fifth, Rodriguez quickly got Manny Machado to ground out and struck out Delmon Young and Adam Jones to end the threat. While he hasn't been in many jams this season, Rodriguez has gotten out of every one he's faced (the lone run he's allowed this year was a solo homer by Minnesota's Brian Dozier).

Opposing Rodriguez will be Marco Estrada, who did not star in a show about California motorcycle cops during the '80s. Rather, he's a righty who has spent time in the Toronto bullpen and rotation, starting the season as a reliever. He's had just one outing against Boston this season, pitching three shutout innings in relief back on April 28 in Boston. Estrada is 2-3 with a 4.54 ERA since becoming a starter at the beginning of May.

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