Boston @ Pittsburgh preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 25, 2011 ) Boston 4, Pittsburgh 6

THE STORY: Over the past few years, the Boston Red Sox have enjoyed a lot of success in interleague play. They’re not enjoying any part of it lately. Boston starts Andrew Miller as it looks to snap a four-game losing streak opposite Pittsburgh’s James McDonald. The Pirates have won four straight and will try to complete a surprising three-game interleague series sweep at home Sunday.

TV: 1:35 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), Root Sports (Pittsburgh)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Red Sox RH Andrew Miller (0-0, 4.76 ERA) vs. Pirates RH James McDonald (5-4, 4.86). Miller made his first start with the Red Sox on Monday and pitched five strong innings before running out of gas in the sixth. He didn’t figure in the decision but took a shutout into the sixth before allowing a three-run homer to Orlando Hudson. Boston went on to win the game 14-5. Pitching for the Marlins, Miller has faced Pittsburgh twice and is 1-1 with a 5.56 ERA. He was dominant at Triple A Pawtucket before being called up last week. McDonald has struggled with his control this season, allowing 42 walks in 79 innings while opponents are batting .282. Still, he has won his last two decisions, beating Houston and the New York Mets. While he is a back-of-the-rotation starter, he has been serviceable of late for the Pirates. McDonald has never faced Boston.

ABOUT THE PIRATES (39-37): Closer Joel Hanrahan struck out Adrian Gonzalez to end Saturday’s game. He has saved the first two games of the series and is 22-for-22 this season. Lyle Overbay continues to be a Red Sox killer - he has 13 homers and 38 RBIs while batting .307. The Pirates spotted Boston short leads in the first two games of the series but rallied to win. Pittsburgh improved to 14-9 in June, assuring the Pirates of their first winning month since June 2009.

ABOUT THE RED SOX (44-32): Boston hasn’t lost more than four straight games since opening the season on a six-game skid. The Red Sox are certainly feeling a little bit of pressure in the series finale especially with a three-game set at Philadelphia up next. Boston fell into second place in the American League East with Saturday’s 6-4 loss. The Red Sox hit three home runs, but all solo shots. Boston has scored 10 runs in their last four games and is 5-6 in interleague games. “We had it going so good for so long,” manager Terry Francona said. “You want the good streaks to be long and the bad ones to be short.” Dustin Pedroia went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, but he also made a huge error Saturday.

FINAL PITCH: Terry Francona elected to sit David Ortiz again Saturday night. Francona continues to debate whether to play Adrian Gonzalez in the outfield and put Ortiz at first, but has decided against it the first two games of this nine-game interleague road trip. His use of Ortiz to lead off the ninth inning was curious - he could have used Ortiz to pinch-hit for Marco Scutaro in the eighth inning. Scutaro popped out with two runners on base to end the inning.