Lou Merloni and John Tomase take a look at the standing in the AL East, and how the Red Sox can emerge with some very tough competition.
After Connor Seabold's performance against the Toronto Blue Jays in his second Major League start, the Red Sox optioned him back to Triple-A Worcester.
Seabold pitched 4.2 innings and gave up seven runs on nine hits (three homers). He also had one walk in the 7-2 loss that broke the Red Sox' impressive seven-game winning streak. On the positive side, Seabold managed to strike out seven Blue Jays batters and caused Toronto players to swing and miss 21 times, the most by a Red Sox starter this year.
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SIGN UP HERE "Like I said, the fastball has some life up there," Alex Cora said about Seabold's performance, via NESN.com. "There are some good hitters on that team and to to be able to do that against them, he's a good one. It was his first one this year against a tough team. He's a guy that we really like, and let's see what happens in the upcoming days."
With right-hander Tanner Houck ineligible to travel to Canada as a result of his vaccination status, the Red Sox selected reliever Silvino Bracho to fill Seabold's roster spot ahead of the game on Tuesday night.
Adding Bracho to the roster gives Boston a total of nine relievers against the Blue Jays on Tuesday. In the series opener, the Red Sox used four different relievers.
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The 29-year-old, who signed a minor-league deal with Boston this winter, has previously played games in MLB with the Arizona Diamondbacks. This will be Bracho's first Major League game in two years. This season, Bracho has a 3.16 ERA for the WooSox and has struck out 36 batters in 18 games (31.1 innings).
Bracho is not required to be on the Red Sox' 40-man roster because he is replacing an unvaccinated player on the restricted list. He will most likely return to the WooSox once Houck is eligible to compete again.
The first pitch for the second game of the Red Sox' series against the Blue Jays is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. ET at Rogers Centre.
