(Sports Network) - Trying to beat the Boston Red Sox on the road has been enough of a challenge for the Baltimore Orioles over the years. Having to do it against Jon Lester has usually made it even tougher on the young club.

Lester will attempt to keep his undefeated record against the Orioles intact when he takes the mound for the Red Sox in tonight's second test of a three- game series between the American League East teams at Fenway Park.

In seven career starts versus Baltimore, Lester is 5-0 with a 2.93 earned run average. Two of those victories have come in the young southpaw's four outings against the Orioles in 2008.

Lester has also been dominant on the Fenway Park mound this season, having amassed a stellar 7-1 mark along with a 2.93 ERA in his 13 home starts.

The 24-year-old rebounded from an awful 2 1/3-inning stint at Toronto on August 23 with a sharp effort in Thursday's game against the rival New York Yankees. Lester allowed just one run and struck out eight Bronx Bombers in 6 2/3 innings, although he wound up with a no-decision in an eventual 3-2 Boston loss.

Boston continued its home mastery of the Orioles in last night's opener, as Paul Byrd tossed seven solid innings and both Dustin Pedroia and Jed Lowrie knocked in two runs to propel the Sox to a 7-4 decision.

Byrd (10-11) picked up his third consecutive win after allowing four runs on seven hits and a walk. Three of the four runs he surrendered came on solo home runs.

Jason Varitek and Jeff Bailey had solo homers for Boston, which has won three of its last four contests and closed within five games of first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East race. The Red Sox also extended their margin over both Chicago and Minnesota to three games in the league's Wild Card standings.

Baltimore starter Garrett Olson (8-7) was tagged for six runs on six hits and five walks over 5 2/3 innings to suffer the loss.

Adam Jones, activated from the 15-day disabled list prior to Monday's game, had one of the Orioles' three homers on the evening. Juan Castro and Kevin Millar also went deep for Baltimore.

Monday's setback was the Orioles' fourth in a row and ninth in the team's last 10 games. Baltimore also fell to 6-21 in its last 27 encounters with the Red Sox at Fenway, where the O's haven't won a series since April 25-26, 2005.

Boston is 10-6 against Baltimore so far this season, including a 5-2 mark at home.

Radhames Liz gets the starting assignment for the Orioles tonight and hopes for a better performance than his last time at Fenway Park. The rookie faced the Red Sox in Boston on July 12 and was promptly shelled for eight runs on six hits -- including three homers -- in just 2 1/3 innings of a 12-1 loss.

Liz also pitched at Fenway on August 31, 2007 and gave up a pair of runs in a three-inning no-decision.

The 25-year-old is coming off an encouraging start on Wednesday, when he threw 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball to defeat the White Sox.