Lucas Giolito tries to ship Red Sox sweep of Astros

Right-hander Lucas Giolito will get the start on the mound when the Boston Red Sox attempt to sweep a three-game series from the visiting Houston Astros on Sunday.

Dustin May, whom Boston acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, was originally scheduled to start Sunday’s game, but his first start with the Red Sox has been pushed back to Wednesday, when Boston will wrap up a three-game home series with Kansas City.

Boston manager Alex Cora said the change was made so Giolito (7-2, 3.80 ERA) would be able to take his regular turn in the rotation. Giolito is 2-6 with a 5.94 ERA in 53 innings over nine career appearances — all starts — against Houston.

“I talked to Lucas about Sunday,” Cora said. “It was either him pitching Sunday or May. Garrett (Crochet) is going to pitch (Tuesday), so it was going to be a lot of days in-between starts and Gio didn’t like that. I said, ‘I’m just thinking about you — (Sunday) is an 11:30 (a.m.) game,’ and he said, ‘I’m good. If I survived (the July 4 start) in Washington, I’ll be OK on Sunday.’

“We’ll do that and then we’ll schedule May for the last one against Kansas City.”

May, whose last start for the Dodgers was on July 27 at Fenway Park against the Red Sox, will be making his debut with Boston on nine days of rest.

Lefty Framber Valdez (11-4, 2.62) will get the start Sunday for Houston. Valdez has a 3-1 record and a 1.96 ERA over five career games (three starts) against the Red Sox. He has 24 strikeouts and three walks in 23 innings against Boston.

Boston beat Houston 2-1 in 10 innings on Friday and earned a 7-3 victory on Saturday. The Astros have lost seven of their last nine games and five of their last seven series.

“Their top of the lineup had five at-bats,” Cora said. “They just kept coming up and up and up. It was a lot of traffic, but at the end of the day, we were able to get 27 outs and we won the series.”

The Astros jumped out to a 2-0 lead in their first at-bat Saturday but could not maintain the momentum. Boston received home runs from Romy Gonzalez, Trevor Story and Abraham Toro.

“Coming back after that first inning, getting down quick, the belief was always there,” Story said. “We know the type of team we have. We’ve played from behind, we’ve played from ahead. We just feel like we’re not out of any game and that’s a great feeling to have.”

The Astros were 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position Saturday and stranded 14 runners.

“We got a lot of traffic,” Houston manager Joe Espada said. “The middle of our order swung the bat really well. A lot of people on base, we just couldn’t get that big hit. I do like what I’m seeing from our at-bats.”

Shortstop Jeremy Pena returned to Houston’s lineup Friday after being activated from the 10-day injured list but left the game with a cramp in the 10th inning. He did not play Saturday but is expected back in the lineup Sunday.

“I think the travel and getting on base a lot (Friday), he cramped up a little bit, but he’s doing OK,” Espada said. “Get him back in there (Sunday).”

–Field Level Media