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Mariners-Red Sox Preview

Aug 23, 2010 - 2:23 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Seattle (49-74) at Boston (70-54), 7:10 p.m. EDT

Facing the Seattle Mariners usually seems to bring out the best in John Lackey.

The Boston right-hander looks to continue his recent success over the Mariners and help the Red Sox to a third straight victory Monday night at Fenway Park.

Lackey (11-7, 4.62 ERA) is 12-9 with a 3.70 ERA in 26 career starts versus Seattle, all but one coming while with the Los Angeles Angels. He's been even better the last few years, going 7-1 with a 1.89 ERA over a nine-start stretch against the Mariners.

In his last outing at Seattle - his first against the Mariners with Boston - Lackey lost his bid for a no-hitter with two outs in the eighth inning before Manny Delcarmen and Jonathan Papelbon allowed five runs in the ninth of an 8-6, 13-inning Boston victory July 22.

"Definitely one of the weirdest no-decisions I've ever had," Lackey said.

Lackey earned his first victory in four starts this month Wednesday, giving up five runs and 10 hits in seven innings of a 7-5 win home win over the Angels.

Lackey is 1-2 with a 6.49 ERA in August but has a good chance to remain successful against Seattle (49-75), which was shut out for the 11th time this season after a 10-0 loss at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.

Third in the AL East and 5 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay for the wild card, Boston (71-54) hopes to continue to play well at Fenway after improving to 4-2 on a nine-game homestand with a 5-0 win over Toronto on Sunday.

"I'm not going to say it's late, but it's definitely not early," Lackey told the Red Sox official website. "These are definitely critical games, and especially playing here at home."

David Ortiz had two hits with an RBI and Bill Hall added a two-run homer to help Clay Buchholz record his team-leading 15th win. Ortiz is batting .333 with six RBIs in his last 11 games. He is 7 for 21 with two homers and four RBIs in his last five versus Seattle.

Former Mariner Adrian Beltre is batting .323 with 23 homers and a team-best 86 RBIs in his first season with Boston but is 2 for 13 in his last four games. He went 3 for 16 at Seattle last month.

The Mariners split that four-game July set and took two of three at Fenway in 2009. Seattle is 5-4 on a 12-game road trip despite allowing 19 runs while losing the final two at Yankee Stadium.

Seattle hopes Doug Fister (4-8, 3,92) can provide a strong effort in his second career start against Boston in the opener. The right-hander allowed two runs in five innings but did not receive a decision in a 4-2 home win over the Red Sox on July 25.

Fister is 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA in his last two starts. He gave up three runs and 10 hits in five innings in five innings of a 5-4, 11-inning loss at Baltimore on Monday.

Ichiro Suzuki is 10 for 29 in his last six games after he had one of Seattle's six hits Sunday. Suzuki is a lifetime .304 hitter versus Boston but is 3 for 17 against the Red Sox this season.