(Sports Network) - A big reason for Boston's recent success has been its play at Fenway Park. That's not good news for the Diamondbacks, who will be vying to halt a 10-game road losing streak tonight in the opener of a three-game interleague series against the Red Sox.
The Red Sox have won 11 of their last 16 games in Beantown and are 19-9 as the host since late April. They were in line for a three-game home sweep of the two-time defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies, but dropped a 5-3 decision in Sunday's series finale.
Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield wasn't able to stymie the Phillies, as he was stuck with the loss for surrendering four runs and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings. Adrian Beltre homered and Dustin Pedroia collected three hits for Boston, which is four games off the pace in the American League East and 10-5 over the previous 15 contests.
"I had a bad fourth inning and just tried to keep us in the game as long as possible," Wakefield said. "We had a lot of chances to score runs and I felt our offense was going to score a lot of runs today. Unfortunately, we came out on the short end of the stick."
Taking the ball for the Red Sox tonight in the continuation of a 10-day, nine- game interleague homestand will beClay Buchholz, who hopes to get back on track in his 13th start. Buchholz was 5-0 with a 0.99 earned run average in five starts before losing in Cleveland last Wednesday. In the 11-0 loss to the Indians, Buchholz tossed seven innings of three-run ball.
The right-hander fell to 8-4 and raised his ERA to 2.52. He will try to push his home record over the .500 mark tonight, as he is 3-3 in six Fenway Park outings this season. Buchholz has never faced the Diamondbacks.
Arizona completed a successful 10-game homestand with a 6-4 mark and won the last two portions of a three-game set versus the St. Louis Cardinals. In Sunday's 7-5 win at Chase Field, Chris Young clubbed a two-out two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning off of Kyle McClellan.
"He gave me a good pitch to hit. I knew it had a chance," Young said.
Young homered twice and finished with three RBI, while Adam LaRoche drove in three runs for Arizona, which hasn't won on the road since May 17 at Florida and will also make a stop in Detroit on the trek.
Ian Kennedy will try to reverse Arizona's road fortunes when he toes the rubber at Fenway Park tonight. Kennedy is coming off a no-decision last Wednesday in a 2-1 win over Atlanta, as he held the Braves in check with seven shutout innings of three-hit ball. Kennedy struck out six and walked five.
The right-hander hasn't recorded a decision in three straight starts and is 3-3 with a 3.17 earned run average in 13 starts this season. Kennedy was acquired in the offseason as part of a three-team trade with the Yankees andTigers. He is 2-2 in seven road starts this season.
Boston has won four of the last six meetings with Arizona since losing all three matchups at Fenway Park back in 2002. The Red Sox are 131-104 against the National League, while Arizona is 86-104 all-time in interleague action.