BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels came into their four-game set in need of a boost after both were swept in their previous series.
The Red Sox succeeded, impressively, and sent the Angels back West with a seven-game losing streak.
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Victor Martinez homered and drove in four runs, and Boston completed the sweep of Los Angeles with an 11-6 victory Thursday night.
“They came in swept by Detroit and we came in swept by Baltimore,” Martinez said. “One or the other was going to have the losing streak alive and hopefully it’s not us. But we just stepped up and played good baseball, and we got good results.”
The Angels were swept in a four-game series at Fenway Park for the first time since 1967. They are 0-7 on a trip that ends with three games in Seattle, and have lost seven straight for the first time since the final seven games of the 2001 season.
Martinez’s two-run homer in the third cut the deficit to 4-2, and his two-run double in the fifth tied it. The Red Sox added three more runs in the fifth, going ahead on Jeremy Hermida’s two-run single and making it 7-4 on Darnell McDonald’s double.
Boston improved to 15-14, the first time it’s been over .500 since the opening-night victory against the New York Yankees.
“Everybody knows it won’t be the whole season like that. There’s no way,” Martinez said.
“Those guys are taking this streak hard and that’s part of the problem,” said Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, who held a team meeting after the game. “We have to turn the page. We are carrying ghosts from this week. I thought that was always the strength of this group, but guys are starting to press.”
The last time the teams met at Fenway Park, the Angels completed a three-game sweep of the Red Sox in last year’s AL division series with a 7-6 victory on Oct. 11.
“I don’t think that we were looking to sweep” this week, Martinez said. “I think that’s putting too much pressure on ourselves.”
Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-1) retired 13 of the last 16 batters he faced after allowing four runs in the first. Scott Kazmir (2-2) gave up seven runs in 41/3 innings after coming off his best start of the season.
Matsuzaka made his second start since beginning the season on the disabled list with a neck strain, and the Angels capitalized on his wildness to score four in the first.
He walked the first two batters, Erick Aybar, who stole second, and Bobby Abreu. Torii Hunter’s single made it 1-0. After a double steal by Abreu and Hunter, Hideki Matsui walked, loading the bases. Juan Rivera drove in one run on a forceout at second and Howie Kendrick drove in two with a double.
But Matsuzaka allowed just two hits in the next four innings while the Red Sox scored seven runs. He threw 39 pitches in the first inning and 38 in the next three combined.
“Once he did get in a rhythm,” Boston Manager Terry Fran-cona said, “he pitched a lot better.”
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