BOSTON —ed Sox starters in the coming postseason.But the veteran right-hander Tyler Clippard Jersey , who won the Cy Young Award two years ago, will use the rest of September to straighten himself out on the mound so he can help his team get where it wants to go.Porcello, who faces the New York Mets in the second game of a three-game interleague series Saturday at Fenway Park, is 16-7 with a 4.27 ERA on the season. However, he is 2-3 with a 5.82 ERA in his last seven starts, yielding 10 home runs over that span.Article continues below ...Prior to that, he was 14-4 with a 3.84 ERA.Porcello is 1-1 with an 8.44 ERA in two career starts against the Mets, but he has not faced them since 2013.Porcello will face Mets rookie Corey Oswalt as the Red Sox look to even the series after Friday night’s 8-0 Mets victory — their fourth in a row — which snapped Boston’s four-game winning streak.Oswalt is 3-2 with a 6.62 ERA in 14 games, nine as a starter, and he has never faced the Red Sox.The Red Sox came into Friday night’s game 35-8 in their last 43 interleague games, but the Mets hit four homers and got seven shutout innings from Noah Syndergaard for the easy win, their fourth in 48 hours. Syndergaard (12-3) gave up three hits, walked three and struck out six.The Red Sox were set to start utility pitcher Hector Velazquez on Friday http://www.astrosfanproshop.com/authentic-justin-verlander-jersey , but had to make a change as Velazquez was ill, turning it into a complete bullpen game.Left-hander Brian Johnson, fighting for a postseason spot, wound up going 4 2/3 innings and allowing only one run — on one of the four New York homers.“He threw the ball better,” said Boston manager Alex Cora. “When he came in with the bases loaded one thing was different from the last one. I was like, ‘Hey man, slow down.’ That’s the most important thing. You have to throw strikes, but make sure you slow down. He did a good job.”With the Boston loss and a win by the New York Yankees, the Red Sox, who have already clinched a postseason berth, saw their magic number for wrapping up the American League East remain at six.The “highlight” of the game for the local fans was the sight of a couple of rats, one very large, in and near the Mets dugout Yuli Gurriel Jersey , providing some comic relief and plenty of finger pointing.“The thing was, he was a nice rat,” said New York’s Dominic Smith, who recently watched a documentary about rats. “He wasn’t trying to get anybody. He was trying to run. There are some mean rats out there.”Reliever Matt Barnes, a favorite in the Red Sox’s eighth-inning setup picture but out with hip inflammation, returned to a mound for the first time in almost a week with a side session.“Everything went well,” Cora said. “We’ll see how he recovers, and if everything goes fine, he’ll throw another one on Sunday.”Eduardo Nunez was out of the lineup Friday with a sore knee and won’t play Saturday, either.The Mets announced that David Wright, who is set to start at third base Sept. 29 in what will likely be his final game (because of injuries), will be used as a pinch hitter before that date.“I need to at least give him a few-innings heads-up,” manager Mickey Callaway said before Friday night’s game. “We’ll know how the game’s going and things like that. He’s definitely going to need a little time to prepare.”Veterans Jose Reyes and Jose Lobaton are the only current Mets with significant at-bats against Porcello. Reyes is 6-for-12 (.500) and Lobaton 3-for-8 (.375).Jacob deGrom and Chris Sale are matched up in a duel of aces Sunday Jake Marisnick Jersey , but that’s a bit misleading because Sale, who is still rebounding from left shoulder inflammation, is only slated to pitch three innings as the “opener.” DENVER (AP) — The starters for Tuesday’s game between Pittsburgh and Colorado reads like this: Jameson Taillon vs. Chad Bettis.A more accurate description: Two starters bouncing back from testicular cancer.“Both healthy. Both in the big leagues,” the Pirates’ Taillon said. “Life’s good.”The Rockies’ Bettis underwent surgery in November 2016 for testicular cancer and continued cancer treatments through that spring and into last season. So when Taillon had surgery to treat testicular cancer on May 8, 2017, he had an instant line of support.“Baseball is a brotherhood. When something happens to our own, everyone comes together — even more so when there are two people going through the same thing,” the 26-year-old Taillon said. “It made sense to reach out to each other and give our well-wishes and see if there’s anything we could offer up to each other.“I just felt like if I needed anything or had a question, I was very comfortable going to ask him about any part of the process.”Taillon did, too. Simple things: How often did you get your blood levels checked? What was the treatment like?“It was really nothing crazy, but that was comforting,” Taillon said. “He was months ahead of me and what I was going through. It was nice to have somebody I could ask questions.”Taillon’s eyes lit up when he heard that Bettis would come off the disabled list — Bettis has been dealing with a blister — to make the start. Bettis hadn’t been officially named the starter when the clubhouse was open Monday, but he did say how “cool” it would to face Taillon.“It will be really nice for that to happen Joe Jimenez Jersey ,” said Bettis, who returned to the Rockies’ starting rotation on Aug. 14, 2017, after his recovery.Bettis hasn’t pitched for the Rockies since July 1 due to a blister on his middle finger. He’s tried every remedy, but it keeps bothering him. So the 29-year-old texted Taillon, who’s been dealing with a cut on his middle finger as well.“He had some good insight,” Bettis said. “There were a couple things he was doing, that I felt we could try and see how it worked out. It was good to get some feedback.”Taillon’s advice? Use a finger sleeve and take days off. He also told Bettis how precisely he was clipping his fingernails.“But you can see I don’t have too much great advice,” Taillon laughed, showing off his cracked finger. “I’m still working through it. I’m still battling my own thing.”It took Taillon about a month to return to the mound last season after testicular cancer surgery. In his first start back on June 12, 2017, he threw five scoreless innings as the Pirates beat the Rockies.Later that season, Taillon got a hit off Chicago Cubs starter Jon Lester http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-jimenez-jersey , a cancer survivor, and was chatting with first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a teenager.“Rizzo looked at me and said, ‘Hey, there are three cancer survivors right here — me, you and Lester,'” Taillon recounted. “That moment was cool for me.“Facing off against Chad will be one of those cool moments.”