Athletics 6 - 8 Red Sox
Final
  for this game

Red Sox try to avoid fifth straight loss in opener with A's

Jun 3, 2011 - 2:36 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Red Sox haven't lost five in a row since starting the 2011 campaign with an 0-6 mark. They will try to avoid that distinction tonight in the opener of a three-game series versus the Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park.

Boston has dropped four in a row and was swept in three games by the Chicago White Sox in Beantown. In Wednesday's 7-4 loss to the Pale Hose, David Ortiz homered and Jarrod Saltalamacchia drove in a pair of runs for the Red Sox, who are two games behind New York for the AL East lead and won 13 of 15 games before their current slide.

"We hit some balls right on the nose and didn't have a lot to show for it," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

Tim Wakefield was reached for four runs and seven hits in six innings for the no-decision, while Matt Albers was dealt the loss for allowing the go-ahead run in the seventh inning.

Clay Buchholz gets the nod for Francona's club and hasn't lost since April 26 at Baltimore, going 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA in six starts since. Buchholz has posted three straight no-decisions and last pitched in Sunday's 4-3 win at Detroit in which he lasted six innings and allowed three runs on six hits.

Buchholz, a right-hander, is 2-1 in five home starts this season and will face the A's for the second time this season after beating them back on April 20 in a 5-3 victory at the Coliseum. He limited Oakland to a run over 5 1/3 frames and is 1-2 with a 7.31 ERA in four career starts in this matchup.

The Athletics were just swept in three games at home by the New York Yankees after winning four straight, and will begin a 10-game road trip tonight against the Red Sox, Orioles and White Sox.

In a 4-2 loss to New York on Wednesday, Gio Gonzalez was saddled with the loss for giving up four runs in 6 1/3 innings. Josh Willingham provided the scoring for the A's with a two-run homer in the first inning, while Coco Crisp and David DeJesus had two hits apiece in Oakland's 10th straight loss to New York.

"They're not that much superior," A's manager Bob Geren said on the club's website. "No team should really have that kind of dominance over another one in our league. Our pitching's too good. It's just more of a coincidence."

Josh Outman will take the ball for Geren's club and is 1-0 with a 2.08 earned run average in two starts since joining the rotation. Outman earned his first win of the season in a 4-2 victory over Baltimore on Saturday, as he yielded just two runs in six innings.

The left-hander has never faced Boston in his career.

Oakland and Boston split a two-game series from April 19-20, while the Athletics are 5-2 in the past seven matchups.






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