Red Sox Aim to Recover Against Angels After Giants Series Loss

ANAHEIM, California — After losing the last two games of their series with the San Francisco Giants, the Boston Red Sox are looking to bounce back against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night. The matchup starts at 9:38 p.m. EDT and is part of a three-game series that concludes the Red Sox’s nine-game, 10-day West Coast trip, where they sit at 3-3.

The Red Sox suffered a setback at San Francisco, committing two errors that resulted in five unearned runs. Manager Alex Cora stressed the need for better defense, saying, “I don’t know how many [unearned runs] there were, but we’ve got to play better defense. The whole weekend was kind of sloppy in that department.”

Walker Buehler will take the mound for Boston, aiming to recover from a rough outing last week where he allowed eight earned runs in just over three innings. Buehler has a record of 5-5 with a 5.95 ERA this season, but he has previously fared well against the Angels, posting a 3.92 ERA in four career starts.

The Angels, currently three games under .500 and fourth in the American League West, will counter with Jack Kochanowicz. This will be Kochanowicz’s first matchup against the Red Sox.

The starting lineups for both teams are as follows:

RED SOX (40-39): Jarren Duran LF, Abraham Toro 1B, Roman Anthony DH, Trevor Story SS, Wilyer Abreu RF, Ceddanne Rafaela CF, Marcelo Mayer 3B, Connor Wong C, David Hamilton 2B, Walker Buehler P

ANGELS (37-40): Zach Neto SS, Nolan Schanuel 1B, Mike Trout DH, Taylor Ward LF, Travis d’Arnaud C, Jo Adell CF, LaMonte Wade Jr. RF, Luis Rengifo 3B, Christian Moore 2B, Jack Kochanowicz P

Boston will need to tighten their defense, having allowed a total of eight unearned runs in the series against the Giants. As they head into the series against the Angels, Cora hopes to see improvement from his players. The Red Sox are 12-13 in series openers this season and 7-9 against teams in the AL West.

Buehler’s statistical performance needs to improve, as he has given up 16 earned runs in just 12⅓ innings pitched this month. Cora remains hopeful that both Buehler and the team will step up when they take the field tonight.