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King Felix hopes to break the brooms out at Fenway

May 1, 2011 - 2:57 PM (Sports Network) - Knuckleball specialist Tim Wakefield will be called upon today to make his first start of the 2011 season when the Red Sox try to avoid a three-game sweep from the Mariners.

Wakefield has made seven relief appearances in 2011 with no record and a 5.56 ERA, but now he's thrust in a starting role due to a stomach ailment for Clay Buchholz. Last year, Wakefield posted a 4-9 record with a 5.71 ERA in 19 starts.

At 44 years, 271 days old, Wakefield is the majors' oldest active player and second-oldest ever to appear for the Red Sox after Deacon McGuire (44 years, 280 days on August 24, 1908).

For his career, Wakefield sports a 4-10 record with a 4.18 ERA in 27 games (17 starts) against the Mariners.

Seattle has never swept a series of at least three games at Fenway Park, but can do so this afternoon with Felix Hernandez on the hill. He's won his last two starts, yielding a total of two earned runs over 13 2/3 innings.

Hernandez is 4-1 with a 2.91 ERA in eight career starts vs. Boston and he's pitched masterfully at Fenway Park where he's 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in four career starts. Hernandez opened his Fenway Park career by not allowing a run in 15 consecutive innings, including a complete-game one-hitter on April 11, 2007.

On Saturday, the Mariners won their sixth straight road game and fifth in a row overall with a 2-0 triumph. Doug Fister and Aaron Laffey kept surviving jams for the Mariners.

Fister (2-3) held Boston off the scoreboard over 5 2/3 innings despite allowing five hits and five walks, and Laffey bridged the gap to Brandon League, who closed out Seattle's win in the ninth.

Milton Bradley and Jack Wilson each knocked in a run for Seattle.

John Lackey (2-3) scattered seven hits and four walks while allowing two runs over six innings for the Red Sox, who went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position to fall for the fourth time in five games.

The Red Sox had won three straight over the Mariners prior to this series.