The Red Sox hit five home runs en route to a convincing 12-2 victory over the Orioles on Sunday afternoon. Bobby Dalbec, Franchy Cordero, Rafael Devers, Christian Arroyo, and Enrique Hernandez all went deep as Boston improved to 23-25 on the season at Fenway Park.
Matched up against Orioles left-hander Bruce Zimmermann out of the gate, the Sox kicked off the scoring in their half of the second inning. Christian Vazquez reached base via a one-out double and Dalbec followed by crushing his second homer in as many days. After Arroyo recorded the second out, Cordero proceeded to crank a 448-foot solo shot to dead center field to give his side an early 3-0 lead.
An inning later, Devers joined in on the action with a leadoff home run that was deposited 434 feet into the right field bleachers. In the fourth, Arroyo and Hernandez contributed to the cause with their third and fourth home runs of the season, respectively.
To that point in the contest, Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta had yet to allow a run through his first four innings. In what was his 10th start of the year for Boston, the right-hander wound up yielding just one run on five hits, three walks, and five strikeouts over six solid innings of work.
That lone Baltimore run off of Pivetta came in the top of the fifth, when Cedric Mullins hit a two-out double and Trey Mancini drove him in on an RBI single to right field that was nearly caught by a sliding Arroyo.
Boston got that run right back, however, as Vazquez scored Xander Bogaerts all the way from first on an RBI double that was laced down the right field line.
Pivetta, meanwhile, ended his day by retiring three of the final four batters he faced in the sixth. The 29-year-old hurler finished with a final pitch count of 106 (64 strikes) while lowering his ERA on the season down to 3.95.
In relief of Pivetta, Tanner Houck got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen from manager Alex Cora. The hard-throwing righty needed just 14 pitches (11 strikes) to face the minimum over two scoreless frames with the help of two double plays.
The bottom of the eighth was all about insurance for the Sox. Cordero capped off his productive day at the plate with a two-run double, J.D. Martinez drew a bases-loaded walk, and Bogaerts delivered with a two-run double of his own off Marcos Diplan.
Those five runs put Boston up, 12-1, going into the ninth. Phillips Valdez gave one of those runs back but otherwise slammed the door on the Orioles to secure a 12-2 win.
Next up: Hill vs. Wells in series finale
The Red Sox will look to earn their fifth straight series victory in Monday’s finale against the Orioles. Boston will give the ball to veteran left-hander Rich Hill while Baltimore will roll with right-hander Tyler Wells.
First pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. eastern time on NESN.
(Picture of Franchy Cordero: Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
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