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Matsuzaka, Fenway Park set for record day

Sep 3, 2008 - 11:38 AM Baltimore (63-75) at Boston (81-57) 1:35 p.m. EDT

BOSTON (Ticker) -- Both Daisuke Matsuzaka and the park in which he pitches will be looking to reach milestones when the Boston Red Sox go for a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.

Matsuzaka (16-2, 2.82 ERA) will take his first crack at breaking the record for wins in a season by a Japanese-born pitcher - a record he currently shares with Hideo Nomo, who won 16 games three times in his 12-year career.

Fenway Park, meanwhile, drew 37,710 on Tuesday, the 454th consecutive sellout at the Red Sox's home field - one shy of the all-time record set at Cleveland's Jacobs Field between 1995-2001. The record is expected to be tied Wednesday and broken next Monday when the Red Sox host Tampa Bay.

Those 37,710 people at Fenway Park Tuesday witnessed Boston pounding out 20 hits en route to a 14-2 thrashing of the lifeless Orioles, who have lost five straight and 10 of 11.

Once again, Dustin Pedroia provided some punch, homering in a six-run fourth inning and finishing with three hits and five RBI. The second baseman has become a legitimate MVP candidate, pushing himself into first place in the American League in batting average (.330), hits (188) and runs (108), while batting .600 (18-for-30) with 11 RBI over the last seven games.

The Red Sox moved to within four games of the Tampa Bay Rays (84-52) in the AL East with the win Tuesday and climbed to four games ahead of both the Chicago White Sox (77-61) and Minnesota Twins (77-61) in the wild card race.

Matzusaka has not suffered a loss since July 28 and is coming off his finest start of the season Friday against Chicago, when he allowed two hits and struck out seven in eight scoreless frames. He has faced the Orioles twice this season, winning both starts while yielding a total of two runs in 11 innings.

Baltimore will counter with righthander Lance Cormier (2-3, 4.61). The 28-year-old will be making his first start of the season in place of ace Jeremy Guthrie, who was scratched because of a dead arm. Cormier has made 23 starts in his five-year career, posting a 5-12 record with a 6.55 ERA.