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Indians-Red Sox Preview

Oct 4, 2009 - 3:47 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Cleveland (65-95) at Boston (93-67), 1:35 p.m. EDT

A strong late-season run has likely earned Clay Buchholz a spot in Boston's postseason rotation, but the young right-hander may need to get some confidence back before his first playoff start.

Buchholz looks to rebound from an ugly outing as the Red Sox try to close the regular season Sunday with a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians, who will hope to avoid a 15th straight road loss in their final game under manager Eric Wedge.

The Red Sox won all eight of Buchholz's starts between Aug. 19 and Sept. 24, and the 25-year-old went 6-0 with a 2.44 ERA in that stretch.

But Buchholz (7-4, 3.74 ERA) wasn't nearly as effective Tuesday against Toronto, allowing seven runs - including five home runs - in five innings of an 8-7 loss. Coming into the outing, Buchholz had allowed just seven homers in 84 innings.

"Some days you've got it, some days you don't," Buchholz told the Red Sox's official Web site. "The stuff was there, and I felt like the velocity was good. Whenever they got a pitch up in the zone, they hit it."

He still could get a taste of his first playoff action as early as Game 3 of the division series against the Los Angeles Angels next weekend, but the AL wild card-winning Red Sox (94-67) would certainly prefer it to be on the heels of a strong outing.

Boston's Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka turned in impressive final tune-ups to start this series, but Josh Beckett struggled Saturday, allowing four runs in five innings of an 11-6 win.

The victory was sparked by Victor Martinez's first career grand slam in the Boston catcher's first series against his former team. Cleveland traded him to the Red Sox on July 31, and he has a .338 average and 41 RBIs in 51 games with his new club.

"He's a difference maker, whether it be on the field, in the dugout or in the clubhouse," Wedge said. "You're talking about an impact position behind home plate and handling the pitching staff and, obviously, he's made a difference over here in Boston."

While one more win for the Red Sox would give the team at least 95 victories for the sixth time in the last seven years, Martinez's departure was simply another product of the Indians' demise, which resulted in Wedge being fired Wednesday.

Cleveland (65-96) won its first game after the decision but has since lost four straight overall, and it enters Sunday tied with Kansas City for last place in the AL Central.

The club hasn't won on the road since a 5-3 victory at Baltimore on Aug. 29, with the 14-game road skid a team record. No major league team has lost 15 consecutive road games within one season since the Seattle Mariners from June 22-July 28, 2004.

Tomo Ohka (1-4, 5.45) will be on the mound trying to end the season on a positive note as the right-hander makes his first start since July 18. In five starts this season, he is 0-4 with a 6.51 ERA, and he hasn't won as a starter since April 29, 2007, against Texas.

Ohka is 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA in three career starts against Boston, the team he started his career with from 1999-2001. The right-hander, who has a 3.93 ERA at Fenway Park, was sent to Montreal at the 2001 trade deadline as part of a deal for closer Ugueth Urbina.