Red Sox left hander Eduardo Rodriguez (#57) winds up for a pitch in a game earlier this season against Tampa Bay at Fenway Park. Photo courtesy of Delaney Gardner (click to enlarge)
The Boston Red Sox hit six homeruns, including two from JD Martinez and Eduardo Rodriguez pitched solidly through seven innings Friday night to defeat the Baltimore Orioles 13-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
Trey Mancini put Baltimore (21-48) ahead early with a solo homer in the bottom of the first. Brock Holt put Boston up for good with a two run homer of his own in the top of the second, his first of the year. From there Rodriguez settled in on the mound and the Red Sox bats exploded. In the fourth Christian Vazquez hit a long solo homer to left to make it 3-1. Michael Chavis singled in Jackie Bradley Jr, and then Martinez hit the first of his two homers with a two run shot to left to give Boston a commanding 6-1 lead.
Boston (37-34) added five more in the fifth on two run homers from Bradley Jr and Chavis, and then Martinez again with a solo bomb. Andrew Benintendi would finish the scoring for the Sox with a two run single in the sixth that made it 13-1.
Martinez led the way with three hits and three RBI for Boston. Chavis had two hits and three RBI as well. Holt and Bradley Jr both had a pair of hits and two RBI each, while Vazquez also had two hits. The Sox had 16 hits on the night. Rodriguez (7-4) allowed just one run on six hits, with no walks and four strikeouts in the 7.0 inning effort. Travis Lakins pitched one inning of scoreless and hitless relief, while Josh Smith allowed a run on three hits in his only inning. Luis Ortiz (0-1) was the Baltimore starter and took the loss allowing four runs on four hits in 3.1 innings. Reliever Dan Straily was hammered in his 1.1 innings of relief allowing seven runs on seven hits and four of the six Boston homeruns. Mancini, Pedro Severino, and Keon Broxton each had two hits for the Orioles. Baltimore drops to 9-26 at home this season.
Game two of the three game weekend series with be a 4:05 p.m. first pitch Saturday. Chris Sale will look to make it four straight wins for Boston, when he is opposed by righty Dylan Bundy for Baltimore.
