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Red Sox host Orioles hoping to stay hot

May 16, 2011 - 6:52 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Red Sox try to go over .500 for the first time this season when they open a brief two-game set with the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park.

After losing their first six games and posting just two wins through their first 12, the Red Sox have finally gotten back to the break even mark following an impressive three-game sweep over the New York Yankees this past weekend. Boston won its fourth straight game on Sunday, as Kevin Youkilis hit a three-run homer, while David Ortiz and Jarrod Saltalamacchia added solo shots to propel the Red Sox to a 7-5 win.

Jon Lester (5-1) gave up four runs on five hits and struck out seven in a six- inning start. Jonathan Papelbon tossed a perfect ninth for his seventh save of the season.

"We won -- I think they're happy about that," manager Terry Francona said of his club. "We're going to go home now. It's not where we're shooting for, but we're coming. We're getting better."

The Red Sox, who have won six of eight overall, have managed five or more runs in their last eight games, and have homered 11 times in their last five games.

"That's what people expect us to do," said Ortiz, who hit a broken-bat homer to Yankee Stadium's short porch in right and was a triple short of the cycle. "When you combine good hitting with good pitching, that's what you're supposed to get, right?"

Getting the ball for the Red Sox tonight will be righty Daisuke Matsuzaka, who is 3-3 with a 4.64 ERA, but hasn't pitched since May 8. Matsuzaka won that one, as he held the Minnesota Twins to four runs and five hits in six innings.

Matsuzaka has faced the Orioles nine times and is 4-3 with a 5.73 ERA.

Baltimore also enters tonight's series opener on a bit of a roll after taking the final two games of its three-game series with the American League East- leading Tampa Bay Rays. In Sunday's rubber match at Tropicana Field, Nick Markakis homered during a three-hit day, propelling the Orioles to a 9-3 win.

Matt Wieters also had three hits and an RBI in the Orioles' 15-hit barrage.

Jake Arrieta (5-1) scattered two runs, four hits and three walks while fanning seven over six innings for the win, the club's fifth in six games.

"Arrieta threw the ball well, and [Baltimore] had a really well-rested bullpen after not being used the previous two days because of the two complete games they threw," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "They had a lot of things going for them."

Hoping to keep that momentum rolling tonight will be right-hander Chris Tillman, who has won two of his last three starts. Tillman beat the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday, holding them to a run and three hits in six innings, as he improved to 2-3 on the year, while lowering his ERA to a still lofty 6.15.

Tillman lost his only other start to the Red Sox and failed to get out of the second inning in that one, as he allowed four runs and five hits with two walks in just 1 1/3 innings.

Baltimore took two of three from the Red Sox earlier in the season after the teams split their 18-game series a year ago.