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Red Sox-Orioles Preview

Jun 5, 2010 - 3:57 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Boston (31-24) at Baltimore (15-39), 7:05 p.m. EDT

After being swept in their last trip to Baltimore, the Boston Red Sox re-established their dominance of the Orioles with a lopsided win to open this weekend's three-game series.

With Jon Lester on the mound Saturday night, another Boston victory seems all but inevitable.

Lester looks to improve to 11-0 in his career against Baltimore and 7-0 in his last nine starts as interim Orioles manager Juan Samuel tries again to snap his club's nine-game losing streak.

The Red Sox (32-24) had won 62 of their previous 80 games against the Orioles before getting swept in a three-game set at Camden Yards from April 30-May 2.

But Boston burst out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning Friday and cruised to an 11-0 victory, sparked by Clay Buchholz's shutout. The game was a bleak debut for Samuel, the former third base coach who took over for Dave Trembley earlier in the day.

"I was very relaxed. It was the same as when I was coaching third base," Samuel said. "The only thing is, when we're on offense, I was in the dugout. I didn't feel any pressure at all. I was just relaxed and letting the guys go out and play."

Trembley's teams were never able to defeat Lester, who is 10-0 with a 2.22 ERA against the Orioles. The Red Sox have gone 12-1 in the left-hander's 13 career starts versus Baltimore.

Lester (6-2, 2.97 ERA) has pitched well against all opponents lately. After struggling in his first three starts of the season, he has gone 6-0 with a 1.43 ERA in his last eight outings, striking out 63 in 56 2-3 innings.

He's hoping to help the Red Sox extend their road winning streak to seven, something Boston hasn't done since June 12-26, 2005.

The Red Sox have won 13 of 17 overall, with plenty of help from a resurgent Victor Martinez. The catcher went 3 for 4 Friday and is batting .489 with four homers, nine doubles and 10 RBIs in his last 13 games.

Martinez has helped Boston total 42 runs in its last five games and score more than six runs per game since May 17 - the highest average in the majors in that stretch.

"We score a lot of runs," Buchholz said. "Guys are swinging it, and it's fun to go out there when we're scoring a lot of runs."

The Red Sox hope their bats stay hot against Jeremy Guthrie, who opposed Lester at Fenway Park on April 23. Neither pitcher got a decision, but Lester worked 5 2-3 scoreless innings while Guthrie gave up three runs in six innings of Boston's 4-3 win.

Guthrie (3-5, 3.84) hasn't beaten the Red Sox since May 13, 2008, with Baltimore losing each of his last seven starts against them. The right-hander is 0-5 with a 6.31 ERA in those outings.

He'll have to end that skid if the Orioles (15-40) are going to avoid their longest losing streak of the season. Baltimore also dropped nine in a row from April 9-17, although it hasn't been long since the club's last double-digit losing streak - the Orioles lost 13 consecutive games from Sept. 17-30.

Baltimore has totaled 14 runs during its current slide, batting .190 as a team in that stretch.