BOSTON (AP) The Baltimore Orioles were overdue for a game like this.
The Orioles wasted too many early chances and finally lost after opening the season with a team-record seven straight wins, beaten by the bats of Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and the Boston Red Sox 4-2 Wednesday night.
”Some of the things that allowed us to get to 7-0 didn’t work out for us tonight,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. ”You have to tip your hat. They’ve got a long chain from the sixth inning on that they were able to do the job out of a very pitcher-friendly night.”
On a chilly night with game time temperatures in the mid-40s, Baltimore left nine runners on in the first five innings, falling behind before Boston’s bullpen shut it down the rest of the way.
The Orioles were the last undefeated team in the majors, ending their longest winning streak to start a season since moving to Baltimore in 1954. The franchise opened 9-0 in 1944 as the St. Louis Browns.
The Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak. Bogaerts hit a two-run double and Bradley had a tiebreaking triple.
Chris Davis hit a two-run homer for the Orioles, who had just two hits and were held scoreless after the fifth.
”Yeah, it was a tough game,” Davis said. ”I think if you’d have told us when the season started we’d get off to the start we did, I think we’d have been happy with it. But it’s always tough to drop the last game of a series.”
Joe Kelly (1-0) labored through five innings, giving up two runs on seven hits with five walks and six strikeouts. Craig Kimbrel, the fifth Boston reliever, struck out all three batters he faced for his second save. He took the loss in the first game of the series, giving up a three-run homer to Davis.
”Obviously it wasn’t the best,” Kelly said. ”I went out there and battled and grinded against a team that’s been really, really hot.”
Ubaldo Jimenez (1-1) gave up four runs on six hits and four walks in five innings.
The Red Sox gave up nine runs to Baltimore in each of the first two games of the series. They took the lead for good in this one in the fourth when Bradley hit an RBI triple off the base of the right-field fence and scored on Mookie Betts‘ groundout that ricocheted off Jimenez’s glove over to second baseman Jonathan Schoop.
Trailing 2-0 in the third, Boston tied it on Bogaerts’ two-run double that got past diving third baseman Manny Machado and went into the left-field corner.
Davis hit his fourth homer, sending a drive into the first row of Green Monster seats in the third.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: CF Adam Jones didn’t start for the sixth straight game because of ribcage soreness. Showalter said he hopes to get him in the lineup Thursday.
Red Sox: Benched 3B Pablo Sandoval was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained left shoulder. LHP Eduardo Rodriguez, on the DL since early April with an injured right knee, threw 50 pitches at the club’s spring training complex in Fort Myers, Florida. ”He got through it very good,” Manager John Farrell said. RHP Carson Smith, on the DL with a strained flexor muscle, also threw in Fort Myers.
SHIPPIN’ OUT OF BOSTON
After the game, the Red Sox optioned OF Rusney Castillo to Triple-A Pawtucket.
”We need to get him out to get him going, get him some at-bats to get him playing every day,” Farrell said.
Castillo had just four at-bats so far, getting two hits.
WEIRD INNING
Bogaerts reached after hitting into a 5-4-6 double play in the first, then stole two bases. The Red Sox had three steals in the inning but didn’t score.
UP NEXT
Orioles: RHP Chris Tillman (1-0, 1.29 ERA) is set to face LHP Cole Hamels (2-0, 2.08) when Baltimore opens a four-game series at Texas on Thursday.
Red Sox: After an off day Thursday, Rick Porcello (1-0, 6.00) is scheduled to face the Blue Jays and RHP R.A. Dickey (1-1, 8.10) in the opener of a four-game series in Fenway Park. Porcello got the win in Toronto on Saturday, giving up four runs in six innings.
