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Red Sox-Mariners Preview

Sep 15, 2010 - 7:09 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Boston (81-64) at Seattle (55-90), 6:40 p.m. EDT

Clay Buchholz's bid for his first AL Cy Young Award has taken a severe hit recently. The Boston Red Sox's playoff hopes are also dim.

The All-Star right-hander looks to rebound from his worst performance of the season as the Red Sox attempt to sweep a three-game series from the lowly Seattle Mariners on Wednesday.

Buchholz (15-7, 2.53 ERA) has a career high in wins while ranking second in the AL in ERA. He appeared to be a serious contender for the Cy Young, going 7-1 with a 1.93 ERA from June 15-Aug. 22 before posting an 0-2 record and 5.40 ERA over his last three starts.

Buchholz's chance to become the first Red Sox pitcher to win the Cy Young since Pedro Martinez in 2000 may have been damaged greatly in his most recent outing Friday. He was tagged for five runs and five hits with four walks in one-plus inning of a 5-0 loss at Oakland.

"I'm not worried about the whole Cy Young deal," Buchholz told the Red Sox's official website. "I'm worried about this team winning games. It was just a poor effort on my part. I know you're going to have bad games, but a bad game for a pitcher on this staff is going out and giving up a couple of runs in four or five innings, not one inning."

Boston (81-64), which is 6 1/2 games back of Tampa Bay for the wild card, has won three in a row after losing nine of 13. The Red Sox beat the Mariners 9-6 on Tuesday to put themselves in position for their first sweep at Seattle since July 21-23, 2008.

Buchholz helped Boston complete that sweep, allowing three runs with seven strikeouts in 5 1-3 innings of a 6-3, 12-inning win in his only appearance against the Mariners.

Adrian Beltre, a member of the Mariners from 2005-09, is hitting .455 with two homers, four RBIs and eight runs over the last nine games. The third baseman went 3 for 4 with a double Tuesday, setting a franchise record with his major league-leading 71st extra-base hit.

The Mariners (55-90) own the worst record in the AL and have dropped six in a row.

They'll turn to David Pauley (2-7, 4.39), who is 0-3 with a 5.55 ERA in his last four starts while getting one total run of support.

That rough stretch for the right-hander started with a 5-3 loss at Boston on Aug. 25, when he allowed four runs in 5 2-3 innings after winning consecutive starts for his first two victories in the majors.

Pauley, who was in the Red Sox system from 2004-08, was slightly better in his most recent outing Friday, giving up three runs in 6 2-3 innings of a 4-3, 14-inning road loss to Los Angeles.