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Red Sox aim to continue dominance of Angels at Fenway

May 4, 2011 - 2:53 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Red Sox try to continue their recent mastery of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this evening when they resume a four-game series at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox have won all six of their meetings with the Angels this season after going 9-1 against them last season. They have also won 17 of the past 19 games in the series, including eight of nine and nine of the last 12 in Beantown.

Boston won its third straight game overall on Tuesday, as Jon Lester tossed seven strong innings while Adrian Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and two RBI to lead the Red Sox to a 7-3 win.

Lester (4-1) gave up six hits and a run with a walk and 11 strikeouts for the Red Sox, who have won four of six and have a chance to get to .500 for the first time this season with another win on Wednesday.

Red Sox pitchers have held opponents to five runs or less over each of their last 17 games since April 16 and have a major league-best 2.37 ERA (40 earned runs in 151 2/3 innings) in that span. The stretch of allowing no more than five runs is the club's longest single-season streak since a 16-gamer to start the 2001 season (April 2-19).

Their previous longest run was an 18-game stretch from May 28-June 17, 1982.

Mark Trumbo hit a solo home run and added a sacrifice fly for the Angels, who have dropped four of six. Dan Haren (4-2) was tagged for four runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts over seven-plus innings.

"Your margin of error is slim," Haren said of facing the Red Sox. "I was as a aggressive as I could have been."

Heading to the hill for the Red Sox tonight will be right-hander Josh Beckett, who is 2-1 with a 2.65 earned run average. Beckett has not received a decision in his last two outings and last Wednesday in Baltimore he allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings of 5-4 loss.

Beckett gave up two runs in eight innings in a no-decision to the Angels two starts ago and is 3-4 lifetime against them with a 4.28 ERA in 11 starts.

The Angels, meanwhile, will counter with right-hander Ervin Santana, who is coming off his first win of the year. Santana beat the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, holding them to four runs (one earned) and four hits in six innings, upping his record to 1-3, while lowering his ERA to 4.89.

Santana lost to the Red Sox on April 23 and is 2-3 in nine starts against them with a 4.56 ERA.