Adley Rutschman went 5-5 with four RBI on Thursday afternoon, in leading the Baltimore Orioles to a 10-9 win over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in the opener of the 2023 MLB season.
Rutschman hit a first inning solo homerun, and Ramon Urias hit a tie breaking two-run shot over the monster in left in fourth off Boston starter Corey Kluber. Kluber was pulled with one out in the fourth and was charged with five earned runs in taking the loss, as Baltimore would end up taking an 8-2 advantage in the fifth inning. With the O’s up 10-4 in the eighth, the Red Sox rallied back within 10-7 when Tristan Casas lifted an RBI sacrifice fly, and Christian Arroyo smacked a two-run double. Justin Turner singled in a run in the ninth off Baltimore closer Felix Bautista, and the inning would be kept alive with one out when Masataka Yoshida hit a groundball to shortstop that should of ended the game on a double play but a bad throw by Urias on the relay allowed Yoshida to reach and get to second base as the tying run. Adam Duvall though struck out swinging to end it.
Along with Rutschman, Baltimore was led by Urias, Anthony Santander, Adam Frazier, and Jorge Mateo who all had two hits a piece. Urias drove in two with his fourth inning homerun. Kyle Gibson got the win on the mound allowing four runs on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Bautista got the save. Yoshida, Turner, Alex Verdugo, and Rafael Devers had two hits each for Boston, with Casas and Arroyo driving in two each. Kluber walked four in his 3.1 innings, and the staff as a whole would issue nine free passes in the game. The teams take the day off Friday before squaring off in game two of the series on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. with Chris Sale pitching for the Sox against Dean Kremer for the Birds.
Recap by Chris Lessner
