Josh Beckett

The Red Sox will look to close out what could have been a very difficult West Coast trip when they go for a rare road sweep of the Angels Wednesday night. Heading into the three-game set with the Halos, the Sox were 3-4 on the trip and thanks to those poor performances were losing ground quickly in both the wild card and division races. Now, no matter the outcome of Wednesday’s contest, they stand to finish their 10-game West Coast swing with at least a .500 record, and with the return of Victor Martinez and Jeremy Hermida from the disabled list, the Sox can only continue to project upward as they head into August. Josh Beckett, who is making his second start since he made his own return from the DL, will look to keep the ball rolling when he takes the hill Wednesday opposite Joel Pineiro.

In his first start back, Beckett (1-1, 6.66 ERA) by all measures surpassed expectations. Over 5 2/3 innings, Beckett allowed just one earned run on five hits and struck out five in a duel with Mariners pitcher Jason Vargas. Boston won that game 2-1, but Beckett did not figure in the decision. If there was one concern, though, it was his pitch count. He threw 98 pitches to get those 17 outs, thanks in part to three walks. On a normal day for the big Texan, that number doesn’t seem so taxing, but that changes when you consider he hadn’t seen major league action in two months. If Beckett is back to full strength and can become ever more economical Wednesday, Sox fans may be in for something they haven’t in almost a year: Josh Beckett, the ace.

Opposite Beckett will be Pineiro (10-7, 4.18 ERA), who has made much more of a name for himself since leaving Boston in 2007. In 31 games as a reliever for the Sox, he went 1-1 with a 5.03 ERA, certainly not the numbers that Theo Epstein had hoped for when he signed Pineiro as a potential closer. (That was the year Jonathan Papelbon flirted with the idea of moving back to the starting rotation.) Since that time, he’s found a little more success as a starter, including a career season (15-12, 3.49 ERA) with St. Louis last year that led to a two-year, $16 million deal with the Angels in the offseason. Although his numbers are not quite up to snuff to those from a year ago, his season ERA had dipped down below 4.00 before a six-run performance in his last outing brought that number back up to 4.18.

David Ortiz has had the most experience against Pineiro in the past, hitting .440 and slugging an incredible .920 against his former mate in 32 at-bats. J.D. Drew, who missed Tuesday’s contest with a hamstring issue, may want to give the hammy another rest Wednesday as his .182 average against the righty is second-lowest on the team.

As for the Angels lineup, you can’t talk about their matchups with Beckett without mentioning Bobby Abreu, who leads all major league hitters in career plate appearances against the Boston starter with 88. All that experience hasn’t done him much good, however, as he is hitting just .203 against the Sox fireballer in his career. On the bright side, he has learned to be patient when facing Beckett and has drawn 19 walks against him, almost double the amount of any other active batter that Beckett has faced.

Red Sox vs. Joel Pineiro

David Ortiz (32 career plate appearances against Pineiro): .440 average/.531 OBP/.920 slugging, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 3 doubles, 6 walks, 3 strikeouts

Marco Scutaro (21): .300/.333/.400, 5 RBI, 2 doubles, 1 walk

Mike Cameron (20): .158/.200/.316, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 4 strikeouts

Victor Martinez (20): .263/.300/.316, 1 RBI, 1 double, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

Kevin Youkilis (15): .200/.200/.467, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 double, 6 strikeouts

J.D. Drew (12): .182/.250/.182, 1 walk

Bill Hall (12): .333/.333/.667, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 double, 2 strikeouts

Jeremy Hermida (6): .000/.167/.000, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

Adrian Beltre (4): .500/.500/.500, 1 RBI

Kevin Cash is 0-for-3 against Pineiro in his career while Eric Patterson is 0-for-2 with a walk. Jed Lowrie and Darnell McDonald have never faced the Anaheim starter.

Angels vs. Josh Beckett

Bobby Abreu (88 career plate appearances against Beckett): .203 average/.375 OBP/.333 slugging, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 doubles, 19 walks, 23 strikeouts

Maicer Izturis (28): .370/.393/.481, 1 RBI, 3 doubles, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts

Hideki Matsui (28): .296/.321/.593, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 1 triple, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts

Howie Kendrick (20): .421/.450/.579, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts

Juan Rivera (20): .111/.200/.111, 1 RBI, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts

Torii Hunter (17): .333/.353/.400, 2 RBI, 1 double, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

Alberto Callaspo (12): .167/.167/.250, 1 double, 3 strikeouts

Jeff Mathis (7): .286/.286/.571, 1 RBI, 2 doubles, 2 strikeouts

Mike Napoli (7): .000/.143/.000, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

Erick Aybar (5): .400/.400/.800, 3 RBI, 1 triple, 1 strikeout

Reggie Willits is 0-for-2 in his career against Beckett. Kevin Frandsen, Bobby Wilson and Brandon Wood have never faced the Boston starter.