(Sports Network) - Paul Byrd targets his fourth straight win this afternoon when the Boston Red Sox play the rubber match of their three-game series with the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Byrd improved to 3-1 with the Red Sox on Monday against Baltimore, as he allowed four runs and seven hits over seven innings to up his overall mark on the season to 10-11 to go along with a 4.58 earned run average.

The 37-year-old right-hander is 7-1 in eight starts since the All-Star break.

Byrd has faced the Rangers nine times over the course of his career, posting a 3-5 mark with a 6.40 ERA.

Texas, meanwhile, will counter with righty Brandon McCarthy, who is coming off his first victory of the season. McCarthy got the best of lowly Seattle on Tuesday, holding the Mariners to a pair of runs and four hits in six innings. He had received a pair of no-decisions in his first two outings of the year, yielding just two earned runs in those starts.

McCarthy is 1-2 lifetime against the Red Sox with a 5.21 ERA in six games, three of which have been starts.

Texas snapped a nine-game losing streak to Boston on Saturday, as Nelson Cruz homered twice and tied a career- high by knocking in five runs, helping the Rangers to a 15-8 win.

Josh Hamilton continued his incredible season by driving in three runs for the Rangers, who beat the Red Sox for the first time in nine meetings this season.

The Rangers surged offensively despite missing designated hitter Milton Bradley from the lineup. Bradley, who is second in the American League with a .327 average, sat out due to a sore left wrist.

Matt Harrison (7-3) scattered seven hits and gave up four runs over six innings to win for the fifth time in six decisions.

Boston had a four-game winning streak broken but remained 2 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay for first place in the AL East. The Rays lost, 7-4 in 13 innings, on Saturday at Toronto thanks to Gregg Zaun's two-out, grand slam off Troy Percival.

Tim Wakefield (8-10) suffered the loss on a milestone night for the knuckleballer. Saturday marked his 500th appearance as a Red Sox, joining Bob Stanley (637) as the only pitchers to reach that mark in a Boston uniform. Wakefield was lifted after allowing seven runs on four hits and four walks, lasting just 1 2/3 innings -- his shortest outing of the year.

Texas is 3-14 over its last 17 meetings with Boston, which swept a three-game set in its most recent visit to Arlington from May 25-27, 2007.