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Red Sox-Blue Jays Preview

May 29, 2009 - 12:12 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Boston (27-20) at Toronto (27-23), 7:07 p.m. EDT

Surprising Toronto was atop the AL East with a 3 1/2-game lead when it began a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox and Tim Wakefield on May 19.

The Blue Jays haven't won since.

On Friday, the quickly fading Jays will try to avoid their 10th consecutive loss as they face first-place Boston and Wakefield at Rogers Centre in the start of a three-game set.

The Blue Jays (27-23) hope a return home will help their fortunes after a dismal 0-9 road trip. They're 16-6 in Toronto this season, including a four-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox from May 15-18.

But things quickly turned sour after that. The Blue Jays' lineup, which led the major leagues in runs at the start of the road trip, managed 13 in the first eight games, getting swept at Boston and Atlanta and losing the first two games at Baltimore.

The bats finally woke up in support of ace Roy Halladay on Wednesday, but the bullpen blew a five-run lead in the eighth inning and a two-run edge in the 11th en route to a 12-10 defeat.

"This is one we had a chance to win. We were leading. So this is about the worst loss we had on this trip," said Toronto's Cito Gaston, who was also the manager when the Blue Jays last lost 10 straight from June 18-28, 1994.

Wakefield could be credited with putting the Blue Jays into their offensive funk after he allowed five hits in eight innings of Boston's 2-1 win - the first loss of Toronto's skid.

Kevin Millar's home run off his former teammate accounted for Toronto's only run, and Millar is 13 for 30 (.433) with four homers against the knuckleballer.

After compiling a 1.86 ERA in his first four starts of the year, Wakefield (6-2, 3.99 ERA) has been a bit uneven lately. Still, he's won four of his last five outings and he's fourth in the majors in run support, getting 8.28 per nine innings.

Boston (28-20) would like to see more offense after scoring seven total runs in the final three games of its four-game set in Minnesota. The Red Sox salvaged a split when Josh Beckett pitched them to a 3-1 win on Thursday, and a one-half game lead over the New York Yankees.

The Blue Jays, now two games back, will have Casey Janssen pitching as they try to avoid a ninth straight loss against division foes.

"If we are going to be in first place, we will have to beat the Sox and the Yanks," Toronto's Lyle Overbay said after Boston's sweep last week. "We can beat these teams. We just have to figure out how."

Janssen (0-1, 4.50) appeared in 70 games as a reliever in 2007 and missed all of last year with a torn labrum, but Saturday at Atlanta he became the 10th different pitcher to start a game in Toronto's banged-up rotation. The right-hander allowed three runs in six innings of a 4-3 loss.

"I could have made some better pitches," Janssen said. "I'm back. That was my goal."

Slumping slugger David Ortiz is hitting .111 (3 for 27) with a double and an RBI in his last seven games, and has seen his average fall to .194. He hit his first - and only homer - this season on May 20 in an 8-3 win over the Jays.