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Red Sox go for sweep vs. Orioles

Aug 20, 2008 - 10:15 AM Boston (73-53) at Baltimore (60-65) 7:05 p.m. EDT

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- The Boston Red Sox will be attempting to start their road trip with a sweep when they face the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.

The Red Sox are two games into a nine-game road trip - their longest remaining trip - that will take them through Toronto and New York.

Boston has outscored the Orioles 13-5 to take the first two games and boost its road record to 30-35. The Red Sox remain 4 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays (77-48) in the American League East and 1 1/2 games ahead of the Minnesota Twins (71-54) in the wild-card race.

The Red Sox will turn to rookie Clay Buchholz (2-8, 6.35 ERA) in the series finale. The 24-year-old righthander has not made a start since August 10 at Chicago, when he allowed five runs and seven hits in three innings to suffer the loss. He surrendered a run in one inning of relief on Sunday.

In his last eight starts for Boston, Buchholz is 0-6 with an 8.61 ERA while allowing opponents a .347 average. He suffered a loss to the Orioles on July 11, when he yielded four runs and walked five in five innings.

Buchholz pitched a no-hitter against Baltimore in his second major league start in September.

The Orioles will counter with rookie Chris Waters (1-0, 4.32). Since allowing one hit in eight innings to earn a win in his major league debut on August 5, the lefthanded Waters has allowed a total of eight runs in 8 2/3 frames.

The Red Sox have won nine of 13 meetings between the teams.