Ryan Dempster tries to pitch the Boston Red Sox to their third straight win on Wednesday when they continue a three-game set with the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park.
Dempster's first outing with the Red Sox was inconsistent, as the New York Yankees reached him for three runs and five hits in five innings. He did strike out eight batters in the loss, but also walked four.
"I made a lot of good pitches and a couple balls fell in," Dempster said. "That was enough to win the game."
Dempster has only faced the Orioles twice and is 1-0 against them with a 1.35 ERA.
Baltimore, meanwhile, will counter with righty Jake Arrieta, who escaped without a decision in his first start, but did not pitch well. The Minnesota Twins battered him for five runs and seven hits in five innings of his team's 9-5 win.
Arrieta has struggled in his career against the Red Sox, posting an 0-3 mark to go along with a 6.00 ERA.
In Monday's opener, Daniel Nava smacked a three-run homer in the seventh inning and Clay Buchholz pitched seven scoreless innings to lead Boston to a 3-1 win in its home opener.
Buchholz (2-0) allowed three hits and walked four with eight strikeouts for the Red Sox, who were coming off a series win in Toronto over the weekend. Joel Hanrahan earned his third save, but served up an Adam Jones homer in the ninth.
"He had very good stuff today," Red Sox manager John Farrell said of Buchholz. "He threw seven solid innings."
Wei-Yin Chen (0-1) yielded five hits and three runs over 6 1/3 innings for the Orioles, who have lost three in a row since starting the year with three wins in four outings.
"It's seven games into the season," Jones said. "It's not like we just got blown out. We got beat."
Baltimore dominated the Red Sox last season, taking 13 of the 18 matchups.
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