Chris Sale’s return to Fenway Park gives Thursday’s Braves-Red Sox matchup a little theater, but the teams are beyond nostalgia. Atlanta arrives at 37-19 with one of the National League’s best records and a 20-9 road mark, while Boston sits at 23-31 and is still trying to drag a miserable home start back toward respectability. The Red Sox finally gave Fenway a jolt Wednesday, beating Atlanta 8-0 behind 15 hits, a six-run fourth inning and another loud night from the top of the order. The Braves remain the deeper, steadier club over two months, but this finale has a sharper edge than the standings suggest because Boston is sending one of its best young arms to the mound and the lineup has started to look more dangerous against left-handed pitching. Below is my preview, prediction, and pick for today’s baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves.

Here’s how I’ll play it. I’ll be pumping out these predictions for individual games all season, with plenty of coverage here on DraftKings Network. Follow my handle @dansby_edits for more betting plays.

Red Sox vs. Braves prediction, preview

Sale is still the headliner, and the Braves have every reason to trust him. He enters 7-3 with a 1.89 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 72 strikeouts, 14 walks and only six HR allowed over 62 innings, with a 29.9% strikeout rate, 5.8% walk rate and .217 xwOBA allowed. His slider remains one of the sport’s nastier left-handed weapons, generating a 38.6% whiff rate, 43.6% strikeout rate, .143 batting average and .187 slugging allowed, while hitters have managed only a 12.8% hard-hit rate against it. The fastball is the pitch Boston has to attack. Sale throws it nearly as often as the slider, and it has allowed a .330 xwOBA with a 48.3% hard-hit rate. That is the lane for a Red Sox lineup that does not have to overpower him for nine innings to make this game uncomfortable.

Boston’s top half has enough recent force to keep this from becoming a simple ace-versus-slump story. Jarren Duran had four hits Wednesday, homered for the second straight game and is carrying a recent stretch with five hits, two HR, seven RBI, five walks, four runs and a 1.137 OPS over his last five games. Wilyer Abreu has been Boston’s best lefty-split surprise, hitting .410 against left-handed pitching this season and .484/.500/.645 over the last 30 days against southpaws. Willson Contreras is the sturdier middle-order matchup problem: .283/.374/.513 overall, 11 HR, 33 RBI, a 15.2% barrel rate, .390 xwOBA and a .298/.411/.638 line with a 1.049 OPS against lefties. He also comes in hot, with nine hits, three extra-base hits, six RBI and a 1.276 OPS over his last five games. Ceddanne Rafaela adds speed and contact stress after a three-hit game Wednesday, and his 28.9 ft/sec sprint speed can turn Fenway singles and wall balls into messier innings than Sale usually allows.

The bottom half gives Boston a better chance to extend early traffic than its season-long offensive ranking implies. Masataka Yoshida has only 16 plate appearances against lefties this year, but his broader profile still brings an 8.5% strikeout rate, 11.0% walk rate and 44.1% hard-hit rate. Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been scorching in a smaller recent sample, going 4-for-11 with a homer, six RBI, one strikeout and a 1.189 OPS over his last five games. That matters because Sale is so good at cutting off innings before they become something larger. Boston’s best path is built through Duran creating immediate pressure, Abreu and Contreras forcing Sale into fastball counts, and the lower order making him throw enough stressful pitches before Atlanta can hand the game to its better bullpen.

Braves vs. Red Sox pick, best bet

Payton Tolle is the reason Atlanta’s side carries more resistance than the records alone would show. The rookie left-hander is 2-2 with a 2.45 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 39 strikeouts and nine walks over 36.2 innings, with a 2.19 xERA, 2.93 FIP, 27.9% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and .237 xwOBA allowed. He already handled this Braves lineup once, giving Boston eight innings of four-hit, two-run ball on 85 pitches, and Drake Baldwin accounted for two of those hits and both RBI before landing on the injured list. Atlanta still has enormous individual damage. Matt Olson owns 15 HR, 44 RBI, a .546 slugging percentage, 51.3% hard-hit rate and 15.8% barrel rate. Michael Harris II has 12 HR, a 93.4 mph average exit velocity and 56.1% hard-hit rate. Ozzie Albies has been the cleanest Atlanta contact bat against lefties at .293/.323/.467 with only four strikeouts in 99 plate appearances. The issue is current shape: the Braves are hitting .231/.287/.388 with a .676 OPS and 99 strikeouts against left-handed pitching over the last 30 days, and they were blanked on five hits Wednesday while going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

That combination makes the full-game markets tricky. Atlanta’s moneyline asks for a short price on the road against a pitcher who has already quieted this lineup. The Braves run line needs separation against Tolle and a Boston offense that just broke through at home. The under at 6.5 has obvious pitching appeal, but Boston’s recent lefty-split surge, Sale’s fastball damage pocket and Fenway’s doubles geometry make that number feel tight. Red Sox moneyline at plus money has some appeal, though Atlanta’s bullpen is a legitimate late-game obstacle with Raisel Iglesias, Dylan Lee and Robert Suarez protecting leads. The cleanest way into this matchup is earlier, before the bullpens define the game and before a low total turns every late swing into a sweat.

Best bet: Red Sox 1st 5 innings team total over 1.5 (+115). Boston’s top five have enough lefty-split production and recent contact quality to scratch out two runs, even if Sale still works deep and Atlanta wins the full game. Playable to -115.

Full-game projection: Braves 4, Red Sox 3. First-five shape: Braves 2, Red Sox 2.

Best bet: Red Sox F5 TT o1.5 runs (+115) vs. Braves

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