Xander Bogaerts had the game winning RBI single in the fifth inning Saturday afternoon, and an inning later added a three-run homerun as the Boston Red Sox stayed a game ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays for the first American League wild card with a 9-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park.
A tough start on the mound for Nick Pivetta though as Cedric Mullins led off the game with a double, and Ryan Mountcastle followed with a two-run homer to left field. Pivetta limited the damage though and didn’t factor into the decision. Boston (85-65) came right back in the bottom of the first inning with Kike Hernandez also leading off with a double, and with one out scored on a Rafael Devers RBI single. Bogaerts and JD Martinez followed with singles to load the bases, and Bobby Dalbec with two outs doubled in Devers and Bogaerts to make it 3-2 Sox. Austin Wynns evened it at 3-3 with a one out solo homer in the top of the second. A one out double by Devers in the fifth set up the game winning single that drove him in by Bogaerts. They capped off the win with four more runs in the sixth when Hunter Renfroe doubled in Hernandez, and Bogaerts crushed a three-run homer deep over the green monster in left center that made it 8-3.
Pivetta was charged with three runs on seven hits in 3.2 innings in a no-decision, while Tanner Houck (1-4) picked up his first win of the season with his first appearance out of the Red Sox bullpen allowing no runs on one hit in 2.2 innings. Devers and Bogaerts had three hits each, while Hernandez and Dalbec had two a piece. Mike Baumann (1-1) was tagged with the loss out the Orioles bullpen allowing five runs on six hits in 2.0 innings. Mullins and Mountcastle had two hits a piece, as the last place O’s dropped to 47-101. Boston goes for a three game sweep on Sunday afternoon at 1:10 p.m. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (10-8, 3.52 ERA) toes the rubber for the Sox, while the Orioles go with LHP Alexander Wells (1-3, 7.76).
