The Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals start a three-game interleague series today. It is time to continue our MLB odds series with a Red Sox-Nationals prediction, pick, and how to watch.

The Red Sox enter the game after winning two of three over the Tigers this past weekend. For the Red Sox, they have now five of their last ten games overall. Still, they sit in fourth in the Al East, 11.5 games back of the Orioles in the division. Meanwhile, they are just three games behind the Blue Jays in the Wild Card race. The Red Sox will be getting some of their top players back from injuries soon and could make a run at the playoffs with their return.

The Washington Nationals come in off a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics. There was a lot of excitement on Sunday in the sweep-clinching victory. The Nationals were down five in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Nationals would be aided by an error while walking twice and having four hits in the inning to score six runs and take the victory. Still, the Nationals are just 53-66 on the season and 23.5 games back in the division. They could take over the fourth place though, as they are just a game behind the Mets.

Here are the Red Sox-Nationals MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

MLB Odds: Red Sox-Nationals Odds

Boston Red Sox: -1.5 (-105)

Washington Nationals: +1.5 (-114)

Over: 9 (-115)

Under: 9 (-105)

How To Watch Red Sox vs. Nationals

TV: NESN/MASN

Stream: MLB.TV

Time: 7:05 PM ET/ 4:05 PM PT

*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why The Red Sox Could Cover The Spread

The Red Sox have won four of five games and it has been the pitching that has given them the edge. In the four wins, they gave up just eight runs. In the one loss, they gave up six runs. On the season they are 18th in team ERA, while sitting 19th in WHIP and 23rd in opponent batting average. It will be Nick Pivetta on the mound to start the game for the Red Sox. Lately, he has been used heavily as a long reliever and a starter. On the season he is 8-6 with a 4.16 ERA. Last time out, he started against the Royals. He went five innings giving up two runs. Both of those were scored on two solo home runs.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox offense has been solid this year. They are tenth in runs scored on the season, while sitting third in batting average, eighth in on-base percentage, and seventh in slugging. Rafael Devers is the leader of this team. He leads the team in home runs and RBIs. His home run total of 26 sits him tied for 12th in the majors, while his 79 RBIs rank him tied for tenth. August has not been the best month for him though. He is hitting just .257 on the month with an OBP of .366. He has a home run and three RBIs, but those all came on August 5th. Meanwhile, he does have three doubles and four runs scored.

In the past week, Adam Duvall has been producing a lot for this team. He has two home runs and six RBIs in the last week while hitting .357. He is also drawing walks and has an OBP of .471 in the last week. Meanwhile, Triston Casas is also getting on base a lot. He has a .391 OBP while hitting .300 in the last week. He also has two home runs and four RBIs while scoring four times. Justin Turner joins Duvall and Casas with two home runs in the last week. He has not been seeing a lot of time though, only playing in two games in the last week. Still, he is hitting .444 with those two solo home runs and scoring three times.

Why The Nationals Could Cover The Spread

The Nationals got some solid offense in their three wins over the Athletics. They scored 19 runs in the series. They are 19th on the season in runs scored while sitting sixth in batting average, 15th in on-base percentage, and 19th in slugging overall. Ildemaro Vargas has been great for the Nationals in the last week. While hitting .296, he has two home runs and two doubles. That has led to him driving in nine runs and scoring four times in the last week. Meanwhile, Keibert Ruiz is on fire. In the last week, he has just four RBIs, but he has scored six times. He has done that while hitting .407 with an on-base percentage of .484. He has also hit three home runs in the last week.

Joining them in hitting well is Stone Garrett. Garrett is hitting .400 in the last week while getting on base at a .500 clip. He has a double as his only extra-base hit, but he has driven in four runs while scoring three times in the last week. Meanwhile, Lane Thomas has cooled off a little as of late. In the first six games of the month, Thomas hit four home runs and drove in ten runs. Since then, he has just one RBI and has just one extra-base hit, a double. Still, Thomas is a player who can turn it off at any moment and could make a huge impact on the game.

On the mound today is Josiah Gray. He is 7-9 on the season with a 3.69 ERA. Gray has a great month in July, with a 3.13 ERa, but has fallen off since then. In his two starts this month, he has pitched just 8.1 innings while giving up nine runs. That gives him an 0-1 record with a 9.72 ERA. Twice this year he has had back-to-back poor outings. Both times he has come back and given up one or fewer runs in a Nationals victory.

Final Red Sox-Nationals Prediction & Pick

While it may seem that Josiah Gray is due for a rebound, and the edge will go to the Nationals over Nick Pivetta in the pitching matchup, that may not be the case. The Nationals have been struggling at home this year. They have been much better since the All-Star break, but Josiah Gray has not been good at home. At home this year he is 3-5 with a 5.17 ERA. While one of his rebound starts was at home, the better one was on the road. Against a Red Sox lineup that can produce some runs, he may not rebound today. Take the Red Sox to cover in this one.

Final Red Sox-Nationals Prediction & Pick: Red Sox -1.5 (-105)