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(Sports Network) - A flu bug has given Justin Masterson a terrific opportunity. The right-hander will make his major league debut this afternoon as the Boston Red Sox wrap a three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Fenway Park.

After Josh Beckett was scratched from Tuesday's start due to the flu and a stiff neck, Daisuke Matsuzaka was unable to go last night because of illness. Matsuzaka's sudden unavailability forced Jon Lester into action on short rest.

Lester was to start today's game, but instead Masterson will be brought up from Double-A Portland to toe the rubber. The sinkerballer is 1-0 with a 0.95 earned run average with Portland.

Illness and injury finally caught up to Boston on Wednesday, as it had its six-game winning streak halted with a 6-4 setback to the Angels. Gary Matthews Jr. belted a pair of solo home runs to lead Los Angeles.

In addition to Matsuzaka and Beckett, Jason Varitek and Manny Delcarmen are battling the flu, while Kevin Youkilis has a lower back injury that forced him to miss yesterday's loss.

Casey Kotchman knocked in the go-ahead run with a sixth-inning homer for the Angels, who have split the first two games of this set. Torii Hunter went 4- for-5 and drove in a run, while Vladimir Guerrero was 2-for-5 and scored twice.

Jon Garland (3-2) picked up the win after allowing four runs on eight hits over six innings, while Francisco Rodriguez picked up his eighth save.

David Ortiz bashed a two-run homer for the Red Sox, who lost for just the second time in 12 games. Julio Lugo and Dustin Pedroia each knocked in a run for Boston.

Craig Hansen (0-1), called up from Triple-A Pawtucket before the game, took the loss after allowing a run on two hits over 1 2/3 innings in relief of emergency starter Lester. Lester allowed four runs on nine hits in five frames while starting on three days' rest for the first time in his major league career.

Joe Saunders will start for the Angels tonight. Though he improved to 3-0 on Friday against Seattle, Saunders had his worst outing of 2008. The left-hander gave up a season-high four runs on six hits -- two of them home runs -- over eight innings of a 5-4 victory.

That marked the third time in four starts this year that Saunders has gone eight innings, though, and he has an excellent 2.15 ERA on the season.

The 26-year-old is 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA in three career starts versus Boston. He won his only other start at Fenway Park, giving up just one run in 7 2/3 frames.

Manny Ramirez, who went 1-for-3 last night, is hitless in five career at-bats versus Saunders and remains four homers short of 500. Ortiz, meanwhile, has hit in six straight games to boost his average 77 points to .188. He is 2- for-10 (.200) versus Saunders.

Boston won six of its 10 regular-season matchups with the Angels a year ago and is 16-12 in the series since the start of the 2005 campaign. Los Angeles is also just 7-11 in Beantown in that time.