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BOSTON – Rick Porcello is expected to be one of the Boston Red Sox starters in the next playoffs.
But the right-handed veteran, who won the Cy Young Award two years ago, will use the rest of September to position himself on the mound to help his team reach its goals.
Porcello, who will face the New York Mets in the second game of a three-match series between Saturday and Sunday at Fenway Park, is 16-7 with an average of 4.27 ERA. However, he is 2-3 with a score of 5.82 in his last seven starts.
Before that, he was 14-4 years old with an ERA of 3.84.
Porcello is 1-1 with an ERA of 8.44 in two career starts against the Mets, but he has not faced them since 2013.
Porcello will face Mets rookie Corey Oswalt, while the Red Sox will watch the series after their 8-0 win over the Mets for their fourth consecutive triumph of Boston's four-game winning streak.
Oswalt is 3-2 with an ERA of 6.62 in 14 games, nine as a starter, and he has never faced the Red Sox.
The Red Sox played Friday night's 35-8 in their last 43 games, but the Mets hit four home runs and earned Noah Syndergaard seven shutout runs for the easy win, their fourth in 48 hours. Syndergaard (12-3) allowed three hits, walked three and took out six.
The Red Sox had to start the pitcher Hector Velazquez Friday, but they had to make a change while Velazquez was sick, which made it a full match.
Left-handed Brian Johnson, who was fighting for a playoff spot, finished 4-23 innings and only allowed one point in one of the four New York circuits.
"He played better," said Alex Cora, director of Boston. "When he arrived with the bases loaded, one thing was different from the previous one, and I thought," Hey man, slow down. "It's the most important thing, you have to launch strikes, but make sure you slow down." He did a good job.
With the defeat of Boston and a victory for the New York Yankees, the Red Sox, who have already won a place in playoffs, saw their magic number to finish the American League six.
The "highlight" of the game for the local fans was the sight of two rats, a very big one, in and near the Mets pirogue, offering some comic relief and a lot of pointing finger.
"The thing was he was a nice rat," said Dominic Smith of New York, who recently watched a documentary about rats. "He was not trying to find anyone, he was trying to run, there are bad rats out there."
Matt Barnes, a favorite of the eighth edition of Red Sox but suffering from inflammation of the hip, found his head for the first time in almost a week with a parallel session.
"Everything went well," said Cora. "We'll see how he will recover and if all goes well, he'll launch another Sunday."
Eduardo Nunez was absent on Friday with a sore knee and will not play on Saturday either.
The Mets announced that David Wright, who is expected to start at third base on Sept. 29 in what will likely be his last game (due to injury), will be used as a batter before that date.
"I have to at least give him some runs," said manager Mickey Callaway before Friday night's game. "We will know how the game is going and things like that – it will definitely need some time to prepare."
Veterans Jose Reyes and Jose Lobaton are the only current Mets with significant battles against Porcello. Reyes is 6-for-12 (.500) and Lobaton 3-for-8 (.375).
Jacob deGrom and Chris Sale are paired Sunday in a duel of aces, but that's a little misleading as Sale, who continues to bounce back after an inflammation in his left shoulder, should only throw three innings.
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