Despite nearly blowing a pair of three-run leads, the Red Sox held on for a series-clinching win over the Orioles on Sunday afternoon. Boston defeated Baltimore by a final score of 9-5 at Fenway Park to improve to 2-1 on the young season.
With lefty Cole Irvin starting for the O’s, the Sox got off to a quick start. The first three batters to greet Irvin all reached base to begin things in the bottom of the first inning. Masataka Yoshida then drove in his side’s first run by plating Rob Refsnyder from third on an RBI groundout.
Enrique Hernandez led off the bottom of the second by launching a 365-foot solo shot over the Green Monster for his second homer in as many days. An inning later, Adam Duvall stayed hot by ripping a two-out double before coming into score on a softly-hit RBI single off the bat of Alex Verdugo.
Verdugo gave the Red Sox an early 3-0 lead heading into the fourth. To that point, Tanner Houck had been cruising right along. Coming off a miserable spring training, the right-hander kicked off his first start of the regular season by retiring nine of the first 11 batters he faced. He then faced the minimum in the top of the fourth before running into some trouble in the fifth.
After giving up a one-out single to Austin Hays, Houck served up a two-run home run to Adam Frazier to get the Orioles on the board. Two batters later, Cedric Mullins took the righty 380 feet deep to right-center field to knot things up at three runs apiece.
Though it ended on a sour note, Houck was still the first Red Sox starter to pitch into the fifth inning and pick up a win this season. Over those five innings of work, the 26-year-old hurler allowed three runs on five hits, one walk, and five strikeouts. He induced 10 swings-and-misses and 45 of the 70 pitches he threw went for strikes.
With Houck’s day over, the Boston lineup got back to work in the latter half of the fifth. Rafael Devers and Justin Turner led off with back-to-back singles before Yoshida drove in Devers with a fly-ball single to center field. That broke the tie and knocked Irvin out of the game. Duvall then greeted new Baltimore reliever Bryan Baker by plating both Turner and Yoshida on a two-run single to left field.
That sequence of events put the Red Sox back up, 6-3, going into the sixth. Following a scoreless inning of relief from John Schreiber, left-hander Richard Bleier made his season debut in the seventh. Acquired from the Marlins for fellow reliever Matt Barnes in January, Bleier yielded a pair of one-out hits to Frazier and Urias, which put runners at second and third for Mullins.
Mullins responded by lacing a two-run single back up the middle to cut the lead to one. But the Red Sox responded in their half of the seventh as Yoshida singled and Duvall doubled off Keegan Akin. After Verdugo popped out, Triston Casas came off the bench and came through with a pinch-hit, 109 mph RBI single to drive in Yoshida. Hernandez followed with a run-scoring base hit of his own to push across Duvall.
Chris Martin stranded one runner in an otherwise clean top of the eighth before Verdugo drove in Yoshida with another RBI single in the bottom half, extending the lead to four runs at 9-5. Kaleb Ort then worked his way around a leadoff double in the ninth to slam the door on the Orioles and secure the series victory.
With Sunday’s win, the Red Sox have taken a series from an American League East opponent. It took them until August 14 to first accomplish that feat last season.
Other worthwhile observations:
The Red Sox are the third team in major-league history to score nine or more runs in three straight games to open a season, joining the 1976 Reds and 1978 Brewers.
Adam Duvall is the first player ever to record six extra-base hits in their first three games as a member of the Red Sox, according to director of baseball communications and media relations J.P. Long.
Next up: Red Sox welcome in the Pirates
The Red Sox will now welcome the Pirates into town for a three-game interleague series that starts on Monday night. Kutter Crawford is expected to get the ball for Boston in the opener while fellow right-hander Johan Oviedo is in line to do the same for Pittsburgh.
First pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. eastern time on NESN.
(Picture of Enrique Hernandez: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
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