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The Boston Red Sox couldn’t get back to Fenway Park soon enough. Boston, of course, was just swept in a four-game series by the New York Yankees for the first time in 24 years. They were outscored 25-8 and now are 6.5 games behind the Yanks and tied for the wild-card lead with Texas.

The Red Sox finished the Yankee series 3 for 38 with runners in scoring position, scoring two runs total the final three games. They are facing their largest deficit in the division since Oct. 1, 2006.

Boston is now on a six-game losing streak, having been swept in Tampa Bay before the Yankee series.

That means Boston is 0-9 since the All-Star break against teams with winning records and it is a slight WagerWeb.com underdog for tonight’s opener against AL Central-leading Detroit.

The only good news for Boston in New York was that outfielder Jason Bay, who had missed the first three games of the series after re-injuring his hamstring while running out a grounder Wednesday in a 6-4 loss to Tampa Bay, was back in the lineup on Sunday night.

Bay, who was hitting .251 with 21 homers and 75 RBIs, said he didn’t feel any pressure to return to the lineup despite the Red Sox’s recent inability to score runs – the Red Sox are batting .174 while being outscored 35-14 during the losing skid. David Ortiz, who has been struggling as well, got Sunday night off but should start tonight.

Boston starts Brad Penny against Detroit’s Edwin Jackson – so big edge to Detroit.

Penny (7-6, 5.20) gave up three home runs in his previous start, a 6-4 loss to the Rays and has given up five runs or more in three of his past four starts. In 11 Fenway starts this season, Penny is 5-2 with a 4.72 ERA. Opponents are hitting .290 against him.

Jackson (8-5, 2.62) was an All-Star for the first time this season. But he is 2-4 with a 5.56 ERA in eight starts against Boston, including a 0-4 record and 7.67 ERA in five at Fenway.

Boston outscored Detroit 21-9 in sweeping a three-game road set from June 2-4, and has won four in a row and seven of eight between the clubs.

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