Oakland @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 5, 2011 ) Oakland 3, Boston 6

THE STORY: Maybe the sixth time’s the charm. Tim Wakefield makes his sixth attempt at notching an elusive win No. 200 in his career when he starts for the Red Sox against the Oakland Athletics on Friday night at Fenway Park. Wakefield is 0-2 since winning his 199th game over a month ago. The A’s will go with slumping lefty Gio Gonzalez in the first of a three-game set against the AL East leaders and they certainly hope to fare better than Thursday when they allowed 22 runs on 21 hits in a loss against the Yankees.

TV: 7:10 p.m. CSCA, NESN

PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics LH Gio Gonzalez (10-11, 3.24 ERA) vs. Red Sox RH Tim Wakefield (6-5, 4.97 ERA)

Gonzalez broke a personal five-game losing streak with a solid outing last start. Gonzalez limited Toronto to four hits and one run in eight innings in Oakland’s 5-1 win. Prior to that lefty who is averaging a strikeout an inning had allowed 25 runs in his last 27 innings. Gonzalez is 1-1 lifetime against Boston with a 5.64 ERA in four starts.

Wakefield has not been racked around lately but he hasn’t won either. Boston is 2-3 in his last five starts with the veteran knuckleballer constantly surrendering leads. On several occasions this season Wakefield has coughed up a lead only to watch the bullpen get out of a jam and pick up the victory. Wakefield has allowed at least three runs in his 11 starts and is 11-7 all-time against the Athletics with a 4.23 ERA.

ABOUT THE RED SOX (80-50): The Red Sox enter the series with a one-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East race. Boston wrapped up a 6-2 road trip on Thursday night with a 6-0 win over the Texas Rangers. Boston will play the rest of the regular season against teams from the Eastern time zone and has 19 of its final 32 contests at home. The Red Sox announced that they will play a doubleheader on Saturday hoping to beat impending Hurricane Irene. Sunday’s game has been postponed. Adrian Gonzalez, who was mired in a prolonged power drought, blasted two more home runs on Thursday night giving him five homers in his last three games. Gonzalez has 23 homers on the season and 102 RBIs. Boston has won 11 of its last 15 Friday night games.

ABOUT THE ATHLETICS (59-71): The A’s looked well on the way to an unlikely sweep against the Yankees at New York before the roof feel in. Oakland led New York 7-1 in the third inning but surrendered three grand slams on Thursday. In the end Oakland was embarrassed 22-9 in its ugliest game of the season. Oakland pitchers allowed seven walks in the sixth inning alone. Still, the A’s won two of three in the Bronx getting five RBIs and two homers from Coco Crisp on Wednesday and Cliff Pennington homered and drove in four runs on Thursday. Oakland has won six of its last nine games but has struggled at Fenway Park winning just 11 of its last 40 games there.

FINAL PITCH: Before his last start, Gonzalez told manager Bob Melvin that he would “go the distance” against Toronto. He and closer Andrew Bailey combined to retire 25 of the last 27 batters in the game.