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Red Sox return home to face Rockies

Jun 25, 2013 - 2:58 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Red Sox kick off a nine-game homestand on Tuesday as they welcome the Colorado Rockies to Fenway Park for a brief interleague series.

Despite dropping two straight and four of its last five games, Boston entered the day with a 2 1/2-game lead over the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles in the American League East Division.

A couple of eighth-inning errors on Sunday helped pave the way for Detroit to claim a 7-5 victory over the Red Sox and clinch the four-game series. Boston out-hit Detroit, 12-8, but committed a total of three costly errors on the day.

The Rockies ended a five-game slide by winning two straight at Washington over the weekend. They trail the Diamondbacks by three games in the NL West.

The bats certainly came alive for the Rockies as they churned out 14 runs on 25 hits in the back-to-back victories. They totaled only seven runs during the previous five-game skid.

Michael Cuddyer homered in his first at-bat during Sunday's 7-6 victory to extend his hitting streak to 21 games, the longest streak in the majors this season. He finished the day 3-for-4 with four RBI.

Toeing the rubber for Colorado on Tuesday is Juan Nicasio, who is seeking his first win since May 19. He has not pitched into the seventh inning in any of his 15 starts this season.

"He's close to turning the corner," said pitching coach Jim Wright. "Every outing that he has success early and loses that game has got to wear on him to the point that he understands what it takes to get through those innings and win the game. He's on the verge of it.

"It's the difference between learning how to win the game versus pitching not to lose the game. Sometimes you're careful not to lose the lead instead of pouring on what you've been doing to get the lead."

For Boston, Ryan Dempster has posted a 3.48 ERA over his last five outings but has not received consistent run support. He took the loss against Tampa Bay on Wednesday after allowing three runs over six innings. The Red Sox are just 6-9 in Dempster's starts.

This marks the Rockies' first visit to Fenway Park since the 2007 World Series. These teams last met in 2010 at Coors Field, where Colorado took two of three from Boston.