Opposite dugout: Red Sox hoping to climb out of AL East basement

Manager: John Farrell (3rd season)

Record: 27-31

Last 10 games: 5-5

Who to watch: 2B Dustin Pedrioa (.313 with 8 HR, 23 RBIs), SS Xander Bogaerts (.296, 21 RBIs), LF Hanley Ramirez (13 HR, 32 RBIs), LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (2-0, 0.61 ERA), RHP Koji Uehara (2.37 ERA, 13 saves)

Season series vs. Orioles: 3-4

Pitching probables:

June 9: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez vs. RHP Miguel Gonzalez, 7:05 p.m., MASN2
June 10: RHP Rick Porcello vs. LHP Wei-Yin Chen, 7:05 p.m., MASN
June 11: LHP Wade Miley vs. RHP Chris Tillman, 7:05 p.m., MASN

Inside the Red Sox:

The Red Sox thought they had a team constructed to contend in the American League East in 2015. Yet here it is June and they're battling the Orioles for the cellar in a tightly packed division where one long winning streak could turn a sub-.500 team into a challenger for the top spot. Boston's problem has been the road, where the club is 12-17, and the Red Sox come into the series at Baltimore with their first three-game winning streak since April 9-11. Monday's off-day was the team's first after a string of 20 straight days with a scheduled game.

No one can blame the Boston double play combination - second baseman Dustin Pedroia and shortstop Xander Bogaerts - for not pulling their weight. Pedroia has hit in 15 of 16 games since moving into the leadoff spot on May 23, going 26-for-66 (.394) in that span. Five of his eight home runs have come away from Fenway Park and he's a career .300 hitter with 26 RBIs at Camden Yards. Bogaerts is on a 14-for-29 (.483) tear and has been particularly deadly with runners in scoring position, hitting .325 (13-for-40). The four-year, $88 million deal the Red Sox made with Hanley Ramirez is paying dividends: The new left fielder is leading the team in home runs (13) and RBIs (31).

But there are struggling sluggers weighing the Red Sox down. Tops on the list is designated hitter David Ortiz, who is batting .219 with six homers and 21 RBIs and took a two-day break late in May to clear his mind. But Ortiz has 23 career homers at Camden Yards, so the Red Sox will hope a change in venue awakens his bat. First baseman Mike Napoli has nine homers, but has had trouble keeping his average up. Third baseman Pablo Sandoval, the team's other big free agent signing over the winter, has only five homers and 17 RBIs. With all of the power in Boston's lineup, it's difficult to fathom that Ramirez is the only hitter in double figures in home runs.

Orioles fans thought for years that they would see left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez in orange and black, but last summer's trade with the Red Sox that netted shutdown lefty reliever Andrew Miller cost them the highly touted pitching prospect, who will start the series opener on Tuesday. The 22-year-old Rodriguez was recalled last month from Triple-A Pawtucket, where he was 4-3 with a 2.98 ERA in eight starts, when the Red Sox needed a starter during a stretch of 20 games without an off-day. All he has done since is impress (and probably make O's fans cringe at the thought of what might have been). In both his starts, he's won and worked at least seven innings, with 14 strikeouts to four walks. According to Elias, Rodriguez is the first pitcher in the modern era (since 1900) who has gone at least seven innings, allowed three or fewer hits and one or fewer runs in his first two starts. As is often the case with a young power pitcher, teams haven't done much against Rodriguez so far - a .102 batting average against, which includes a reverse split that has seen left-handed hitters (.167) hit considerably better than right-handed swingers (.081). Rodriguez has made the most of a fastball that runs between 92-96 mph, which he throws about 64 percent of the time, and is getting lots of movement on his heater. When not throwing gas, he's usually offering an 87 mph curve, which he uses 22 percent of the time. His one road start was his major league debut, and he tossed 7 2/3 innings of three-hit shutout ball. While he's never faced the Orioles, the home team will have plenty of knowledge of the former Baltimore farmhand, and the O's will hope he's over-amped about pitching against his original organization.

Wednesday night starter Rick Porcello signed a four-year, $82.5 million extension just as the 2015 season began, and the new deal starts in 2016. Perhaps that's when the right-hander is planning to start pitching to his paycheck because it's certainly not happened this season, when Porcello has been the poster boy for mediocrity and worked to a 5.01 ERA. He'll follow up a good start with a poor one, then pitch OK in his next. So far, he's pitched slightly better at night, posting a 3-3 record and 3.96 ERA. But he's never really fared well against the Orioles, going 1-3 with a 4.60 ERA in five starts at Camden Yards and 3-6 with a 5.21 ERA in 11 starts overall. Porcello relies on control and changing speeds - he mixes a 91 mph fastball with a 76 mph curve and an 86 mph slider. You'll know he's on his game if opposing hitters are flailing away at his offerings. So far this season, they're hitting him at a .261 clip. He's given up 11 homers in 70 innings pitched in 2015, a red flag considering he yielded only 18 longballs in 204 2/3 innings last season. Porcello is prone to good starts, but is infinitely hittable from his 31st to 45th pitches, when opponents batter him for a .364 (12-for-33) average and three homers.

When the Orioles last saw left-hander Wade Miley, who will start Thursday's series finale, he was at the end of a forgettable first month in a Red Sox uniform that saw him post an 8.62 April ERA. The Orioles contributed to that by battering him for seven runs (six earned) in 2 1/3 innings at Camden Yards in an 18-7 rout. Well, that start must have been a wake-up call of sorts, since Miley followed with a 3.49 ERA in six May starts, logging at least six innings in the first five. His last May outing mirrored that start in Baltimore - he yielded six runs (five earned) in four innings in a loss at Texas. The road hasn't been kind to Miley, who is 2-3 with a 5.10 ERA and a .283 batting average against in away games. Overall, opposing hitters are batting .263 against him, with right-handers boasting a .278 mark. If he throws a first-pitch strike, Miley limits batters to a .194 average; when he gets behind 1-0, foes feast to a .388 tune. He's 0-1 with a 9.64 ERA in two career starts at Camden Yards. Miley's fastball, the pitch he throws about 60 percent of the time, sits between 86-95 mph, and he also throws an 84 mph slider (19 percent) and an 82 mph changeup (14 percent).

Boston's bullpen, like the offense, has been a mix of good and bad. Red Sox relievers have yielded a .257 batting average, third highest in the American League, and 13 saves, the fourth fewest in the AL. Closer Koji Uehara, an ex-Oriole, began the season on the disabled list and has saved 13 of 15 games since being activated a week into the campaign. The right-handed control specialist already yielded six walks after giving out only eight free passes in all of 2014. Righty Junichi Tazawa has chipped in a 1.46 ERA and 0.89 WHIP as Uehara's primary setup man, and Boston is getting good contributions from unheralded relievers like righty Matt Barnes (1.93 ERA) and lefty Tommy Layne (2.50 ERA).