(Sports Network) - The Boston Red Sox shoot for a third straight win this evening, when they open a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park.
After dropping the opener of their set with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday, the Red Sox managed to bounce back and win the final two games and got a terrific effort from Clay Buchholz in Sunday's rubber match. The right-hander tossed six scoreless frames and Bill Hall added a two-run home run in Boston's 5-0 win.
David Ortiz added two hits and an RBI while Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre drove in a run each for the Red Sox, who have now won four of their last six overall.
Buchholz (15-5) gave up five hits while fanning seven and walking three for the win, his fourth straight victory. He has now not allowed an earned run in 23 1/3 consecutive innings.
Hoping to keep the Red Sox in the win column tonight will be right-hander John Lackey, who is 11-7 with a 4.62 earned run average on the year. Lackey picked up a win on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, holding his former team to five runs and 10 hits in seven innings of a 7-5 verdict.
Lackey is certainly no stranger to the Mariners, having pitched the first eight years of his career with the Angels in the AL West, and is 12-9 lifetime against them with a 3.70 ERA in 26 starts.
Seattle, meanwhile, will counter with righty Doug Fister, who is 4-8 with a 3.92 ERA. Fister did not get a decision last Monday in Baltimore, allowing three runs and 10 hits in five innings of his team's 5-4 setback.
Fister also did not receive a decision against the Red Sox earlier in the year, the only previous time he has faced Boston.
Seattle dropped two of three in New York over the weekend and fell 10-0 in Sunday's rubber match at Yankee Stadium. Luke French (2-4) was charged with the loss in that one as the Mariners fell to 5-4 on their current 12-game road trip.
The Mariners, who have won five of their last six series openers, have split their four meetings with the Red Sox this season.