Veteran pitchers square off between White Sox, Red Sox

BOSTON -- Two veteran pitchers with a combined 2017 record of 4-14 square off Sunday at Fenway Park in the final game of the weekend and season series between the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox.

Mike Pelfrey, 3-9 with a 5.04 ERA, pitches for the last-place White Sox as they look to avoid both a sweep of the four-game series and a 23rd loss in their last 27 games.

Doug Fister, who ended a personal 10-game losing streak that dated back to last season when he beat the Cleveland Indians with 7 2/3 strong innings on July 31, is 1-5 with the Red Sox.

"A long time coming," Fister said after the game, an important win for Boston after losing two of the three games against the Kansas City Royals over the previous weekend. "There's been a lot of trials and tribulations that come with it."

Pelfrey, who comes in 1-1 with a 2.61 ERA (and a .223 opponent batting average) in five career starts against Boston, has been better lately -- on the road, anyway. He has gone 1-1 with a 3.77 ERA in his last three road starts, but he has walked nine in 14 1/3 innings over that span. In his last start, at home, against the Toronto Blue Jays, he was torched for six runs on seven hits, including two home runs, in 5 2/3 innings for his ninth loss.

"(I'm) just not throwing strikes for whatever reason. I have no idea," said Pelfrey, who has walked 44 in 89 1/3 innings. "But you can't keep falling behind obviously. Not at this level. I just wasn't very good."

He pitched five scoreless innings in a no-decision against the Red Sox May 31, but has won once -- June 17 at Toronto -- since then.

Pelfrey is 0-1 with a 3.79 ERA in three career starts at Fenway.

Fister is 3-5 with a 4.19 ERA in 11 career starts against the White Sox and has allowed three or fewer runs in seven of those 11 starts.

After Fister's last outing, manager John Farrell said, "He pitched a gem here tonight. We mentioned here the other day about the work he's been doing when he went to the bullpen, some adjustment that he's made to his stride direction that's allowed him to refine his release point. Tonight ... big effect by a big slow curveball in addition to a lot of sink to his fastball."

The Red Sox got another strong outing from Drew Pomeranz and two-run homers in the first two innings from Andrew Benintendi and Jackie Bradley Jr. to win 4-1 Saturday night -- and remain three games ahead of the winning New York Yankees in the American League East. They visit the Yankees next weekend, after a stop at Tampa Bay.

Mookie Betts leads the Boston hitters against Pelfrey, going 4-for-11 against him, while Chris Young is 7-for-21. On the flip side, Hanley Ramirez, who may or may not play Sunday because of a physical problem, is 10-for-56 (.179) but with three homers -- and Mitch Moreland is 3-for-15 with a homer and Xander Bogaerts 2-for-9.

The current Chicago roster has only 20 at-bats (four hits) against Fister, with Jose Abreu 2-for-6.