The set-up: Boston fell 4-2 last night, as Lance McCullers got the better of Drew Pomeranz. The Red Sox were coming off a sweep of the Blue Jays before falling 4-2 to the defending champs last night in the opener of this three game set. After splitting a four-game series with the Tribe, the Astros would then lose two of three to the Yanks previous to their matchup with Boston. I think it's worthy to note that the revenge factor does come into play here, as Houston has now won seven of the last nine in the series.

The pitching matchup: Boston is hoping that Chris Sale (5-2, 2.76 ERA) can bounce back from an uncharacteristically poor outing against the Braves last Sunday, giving up six runs off five hits over just 4.1 innings of work. The silver lining behind the poor outing though was that he'd go on to fan eight opponents.

Gerrit Cole (5-1, 2.05) most recently gave up three earned runs off four hits over seven innings in a no-decision against the Indians on Sunday.

The pick: Last year Cole was 12-12 with a 4.26 ERA for the Pirates, while Chris Sale was 17-8 with a 2.90 ERA. Cole is putting together a career campaign, but his early gains this season simply do not jive with his career numbers and regression seems imminent. I like Sale to bounce back from his latest effort and to at the very least match his counterpart today. And in a scenario like that, I look for the hard-hitting and revenge-minded Red Sox to do the rest. Play on Boston.