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Red Sox, Yankees ready for round two

Apr 16, 2008 - 12:23 PM Boston (9-6) at NY Yankees (8-7) 7:05 pm EDT

BRONX, New York (Ticker) - The last time Chien-Ming Wang faced the Boston Red Sox, he ended up a bunt single and a misplayed fly ball by Bobby Abreu away from a no-hitter.

Wang will try to get the New York Yankees in the win column when they host the Red Sox on Wednesday in the opener of a two-game series.

The Taiwanese righthander has won each of his first three starts, with his best effort coming last Friday at Fenway Park when he went the full nine innings and allowed just two hits and walked none.

Wang (3-0, 1.23 ERA) was perfect until the bottom of the fifth when J.D. Drew lofted a fly ball to deep right field. Abreu got back to the wall in time but mistimed his jump, bouncing into the wall as the ball passed just over his outstretched glove for a solo homer.

New York came away with the win in Wang's start but dropped the next two to their bitter rivals. The Yankees rebounded with a two-game sweep at Tampa Bay on Monday and Tuesday.

First-place Boston pushed its winning streak to four games with a pair of come-from-behind wins at Cleveland.

The Red Sox will once again counter with rookie Clay Buchholz (0-1, 3.27). No stranger to the no-hitter himself having tossed one in his second major league start last September, the righthander allowed one run and four hits in six innings against New York last Friday.

He struggled with his command in Friday's start, managing just 58 strikes among his 99 pitches, but did not factor in the decision.

Buchholz will be looking to keep Alex Rodriguez from moving past Boston legend Ted Williams on the career home run list. The reigning MVP tied Williams and Willie McCovey for 15th place on the all-time list with his 521st blast Monday against the Rays.

Rodriguez singled in three at-bats against Buchholz last Friday.