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Red Sox look to complete sweep of Orioles

Jun 2, 2008 - 1:31 PM Boston (35-24) at Baltimore (26-29) 7:05 p.m. EDT

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Their past road struggles seemingly behind them, the Boston Red Sox will look to complete a sweep of a four-game series with the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.

Owners of the best home record in baseball at 21-5, the Red Sox had dropped nine of 10 away from Fenway Park - including two here - to fall to 11-19 on the road prior to the current trip to Camden Yards.

But Boston used a 5-2 victory in 13 innings on Friday to jump-start the offense, which had averaged just three runs per game during the last nine road losses.

Manny Ramirez paced the offense on Saturday with his 500th career homer, driving the first pitch he saw from righthander Chad Bradford into the right-field seats in the seventh inning to become the 24th player in major league history to reach the milestone. The Red Sox cruised to a 6-3 win - marking the first time they had won back-to-back road contests since May 5-6 at Detroit.

Ramirez wasted little time belting No. 501, going deep in the fourth inning Sunday as Boston pounded Brian Burres for seven runs and 12 hits in four innings on the way to a 9-4 win.

Tim Wakefield (3-4, 4.70 ERA) will look to complete the sweep on Monday by picking up his first win since May 6. The veteran knuckleballer suffered the loss Wednesday at Seattle despite allowing just one run and five hits in eight innings while striking out eight and not issuing a walk.

The strong outing was a swift departure from his previous three starts in which Wakefield had allowed 18 runs - 17 earned - in 13 innings while going 0-2.

Baltimore will turn to ace Jeremy Guthrie (2-6, 3.64). The righthander has been the victim of terrible run support all season, as the Orioles have managed a total of eight runs in Guthrie's six losses.

He picked up a win against Boston on May 13, allowing three runs - two earned - and eight hits in six innings while striking out seven and walking one.