Game Two: Toronto - Jesse Litsch (11-8, 3.70) Boston - Bartolo Colon (4-2, 4.09)

(Sports Network) - A.J. Burnett takes aim at win No. 18 this afternoon, as the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox stage a day/night doubleheader at Fenway Park.

The double-dip was made necessary back on August 15 when the scheduled opener of a three-game set in Beantown was rained out.

Burnett, meanwhile, has been incredible for the Jays, going a career-best 17-10 with a 4.31 earned run average. His latest win came on Tuesday in Chicago, as he held the White Sox to just an earned run and one hit in seven innings of work, while striking out seven with a walk.

The 31-year-old righty, who can become a free agent at season's end, is a perfect 4-0 lifetime against the Red Sox with a 2.70 ERA in six starts.

Opposing him in the first game will be veteran right-hander Paul Byrd, who has won his last four starts. Byrd improved to 4-1 since joining the Red Sox with a win over the Texas Rangers on Sunday, scattering three hits over 6 2/3 scoreless innings.

Byrd has won eight of his last nine starts overall and is 11-11 with a 4.39 ERA combined this season with the Cleveland Indians and Red Sox.

The 37-year-old hurler, who went 2-1 in a three straight starts against the Jays in August, is 5-4 in his career against them with a 3.39 ERA in nine starts.

Boston's hopes in the nightcap will rest on the oft-injured right arm of former AL Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon, who will be making his first big league appearance since mid-June.

Colon is 4-2 with a 4.09 ERA, but hasn't pitched since June 16 after leaving a start against the Philadelphia Phillies with stiffness in his lower back.

He is 8-3 lifetime against the Blue Jays with a 3.85 ERA in 16 starts.

Toronto will counter with righty Jesse Litsch, who has won three of his four starts. Litsch won his second straight start on Tuesday to cap a day/night doubleheader sweep of Chicago, giving up a pair of runs and six hits in seven innings and upping his record on the year to 11-8, while lowering his ERA to 3.70.

Litsch is 4-1 in five starts against the Red Sox with a 3.58 ERA.

The Red Sox picked up a rare win in this series last night, as Kevin Cash hit a three-run homer and Tim Wakefield hurled eight scoreless innings, leading Boston to a 7-0 win.

Wakefield (9-10) allowed just three hits, striking out four without a walk to earn his first win since August 26.

David Ortiz and Jed Lowrie both drove in a pair of runs for the Red Sox, who stopped a two-game slide and crept within two games of Tampa in the race for the AL East crown.

The Rays and Yankees were rained out in New York.

Lyle Overbay, Kevin Mench and Scott Rolen each recorded a hit for the Blue Jays, who have dropped two of three after a 10-game win streak.

David Purcey (3-6) started for Toronto and took the loss, after yielding six hits and four runs -- three earned -- over 6 2/3 innings.

Despite last night's loss, the Blue Jays have won seven of 12 meetings with Boston in 2008 and have even performed well at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox have compiled an excellent 50-21 record this year. However, Toronto has split its six matchups as the visitor in this year's season series.