Chicago Cubs at Boston 7:10 ET
Red Sox over Cubs- Boston's Kutter Crawford (1-0, 0.66 ERA) carries the top qualifying ERA in all of baseball into the weekend-opening start against Chicago rookie left-hander Shota Imanaga (3-0, 0.84). Crawford is coming off his first win and second quality start of the season on Saturday at Pittsburgh, where he worked around seven hits and three walks to allow just one run over six innings. As a result, Crawford's ERA is also now the best by a Red Sox starter since Roger Clemens had a 0.66 mark through his first five starts in 1991. He has not allowed a home run across his last 43 2/3 innings. After sweeping three games at Pittsburgh last weekend, the Red Sox dropped two of three in Cleveland and now return home where they are just 3-7 this season. The Cubs completed their second sweep of 2024 with a 3-1 win over Houston on Thursday to cap a three-game set. Chicago has won nine of its past 12 games. Imanaga is set to face the Red Sox for the first time. He produced his second quality start in four outings in the finale of a doubleheader against the Miami Marlins on Saturday, when he gave up three runs (two earned) in six innings. He struck out five and without issuing a walk. A two-time Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star in his native Japan, Imanaga pitched the first 18 1/3 innings of his U.S. career without allowing an earned run until the fourth inning of his Saturday start. TAKE BOSTON!