The set-up: The Boston Red Sox visited the Bronx for a three-game weekend series with the hated Yankees, beginning on Friday. Boston came to Yankees Stadium on an eight-game winning streak and with a 4 1/2 games lead in the AL East. However, the team's bullpen, which is having an outstanding season, imploded Friday night, allowing a five-run Yankee eighth-inning, as Boston's winning streak was snapped 5-4. The Red Sox recovered nicely though, winning 10-5 on Saturday afternoon and then last night on ESPN, Andrew Benintendi, who hit a pair of three-run HRs on Saturday, drove in the winning run in Sunday's 3-2 win. Boston has now won 10 of its last 11, while opening a 5 1/2-game lead over New York. Benintendi has played a big part in Boston's surge, going 13-for-27 with four HRs and 11 RBI during a seven-game hitting streak. The Indians make a one-day visit to Fenway Park on Monday, for the makeup of a rained-out game back on August 2. Cleveland took the final three contests of its four-game set in Tampa Bay over the weekend to increase its lead in the AL Central to 4 1.2 games, as new acquisition Jay Bruce (from the Mets) made an immediate impact by going 5-for-12 with three RBI.

The pitching matchup: Trevor Bauer (10-8 & 4.79 ERA) will get the nod for Cleveland and Doug Fister (2-5 & 5.03 ERA) for Boston. Bauer is starting to find a groove in what up until now has been a mediocre season (I'm bing kind). He's 3-0 over his last four starts (team is 3-1), allowing just six ERs while registering 28 strikeouts over 27 innings for a 2.00 ERA. He settled for a no-decision against Colorado on Wednesday, even though he permitted just one run on seven hits across seven innings. Bauer has only faced Boston three times but it hasn't been pretty, going 0-2 with a 9.52 ERA (team is 1-2). Fister has posted wins in each of his last two starts, the first of which came against the Indians on July 31, when he allowed two runs on five hits over 7 2/3 innings of a 6-2 win. He then limited the White Sox to three runs on eight hits with a season-high seven strikeouts to win last time out, 6-3. Fister, has seen plenty of Cleveland in his career, going 6-4 with a 3.07 ERA in 17 career starts versus the Indians (teams are 8-9).

The Red Sox began their current 10-1 run by scoring 18 times in beating Cleveland twice (July 31 and August 1), before getting rained out on August 2. Cleveland returns to Boston to make that game up here and will face a Boston lineup averaging 6.09 RPG in its recent surge. Yes, both starters (Bauer and Fister) come in pitching better than they have for most of the season but looking at their respective numbers on the season, I 'smell' an over. Bauer owns a 4.79 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and opponents have batted .271 against him. As for Fister, he's got a 5.03 ERA, 1.55 WHIP and opponents have hit .282 against him. Make the Over a 10* play.