The historic rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox begins a new chapter as the two respected teams meet once more Friday night at Fenway Park at 7:10 p.m. ET.
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The Yankees have won three out of their last four in their series against the Baltimore Orioles before making their trio to Boston, moving the Orioles down the wild-card standings all while pushing themselves ahead and within one game of their divisional nemesis Tampa Bay Rays for the second AL spot.
"It's important," manager Joe Girardi said. "We need to continue to win and we need to continue to take series if we want to play in October."
The Yankees will have pitchers Hiroki Kuroda man the mound despite the right hander being 0-3 with a 6.52 ERA against the Sox.
"At this stage of the season, fatigue really doesn't matter," Kuroda told the team's official website. "You have to treat it as if this is going to be your last outing."
Overall, Kuroda is 1/3 with a 4.26 ERA in five starts against the Red Sox this year, splitting two outings versus John Lackey (9-12, 3.48).
Third basemen Alex Rodriguez, who is 9 for 25 with two homers and four doubles in his last seven games, hasn't always hit well against Lackey. Despite a .183 average and 26 strikeouts in 60 at-bats, five of his 11 hits off the right-hander have been homers.
Rodriguez's batting average versus Lackey is his lowest of the 30 pitchers he's faced at least 45 times.
