I like the play somewhat and say its Houston or nothing here, but I wouldn't call the Sox bats cold... I know you updated with the 10 run outburst last night, but they also scored 9 Thursday and have been averaging 4.5 runs per game over their last 10... Cespedes really makes that lineup look a lot different, not to mention Daniel Nava looking like last year's Nava... woulda been interesting to see what this team could have done with their opening day pitching staff and a .300 hitting Nava (even without Cespedes)
Another angle here for the 'stros is that Uehara is likely unavailable today throwing 2 days in a row and a 26 pitch 9th last night which looked very shaky.. If the Sox plan to commit to Uehara for next season as closer they may want to look to limit him more in the final month as he has thrown the most innings of any reliever in MLB including post season since the start of 2013 and hes 39 years old...
That means Mujica to close today and Tazawa available for the 8th after being given last night off... Badenhop did throw 21 pitches and Tommy Layne was used again and looked shaky so he is likely due for a day off as well... Bottom line is the back end of Boston's pen may look different today and they may look to option Alex Wilson after a fantastic 2 1/3 innings last night and recall Hembree or Escobar for today... nobody said baseball is fair Alex!