The Boston Red Sox rallied from an early 6-0 deficit on Sunday afternoon with a huge six run sixth inning and scoring 13 runs unanswered and went on to defeat the Baltimore Orioles 13-7 at Fenway Park to finish off a three game series sweep. Boston has now won five games in a row.
In a bullpen game for Boston, Nathan Eovaldi was scheduled to throw between 55 and 60 pitches in making his first start since April 17. Eovaldi however didn’t make it that long. Renato Nunez hit a three run homer that totally cleared the monster in left in the top of the first, and Trey Mancini had a two run single in the second to give the visiting Orioles an early 5-0 lead. Eovaldi threw 43 pitches, only 23 for strikes and walked three in his two innings. Darwinzon Hernandez was the next up out of the Red Sox bullpen and allowed a two out RBI double in the third to Hanser Alberto to extend to a 6-0 lead.
Boston would start chipping away a bit in the home half of the third off Baltimore starter Ty Blach. After Chris Owings walked and Mookie Betts doubled to start the inning, Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts both had RBI groundouts to get the hosts on the board at 6-2. Sam Travis hit a one out solo homerun into the center field bleachers in the fourth to get the Sox within 6-3. The score remained the same until the bottom of the sixth. JD Martinez led off with a double down the left field line and moved to third on an Andrew Benintendi fly out to center. Travis walked, ending the day for Blach. Christian Vazquez then doubled in Martinez to cut it to a two run game. Mitch Moreland then came up to pinch hit and hit a popup to shallow left that ending up dropping in. Travis scored on the play, and Vazquez would also score on a throwing error to tie the score 6-6. Owings then struck out for out number two, but Devers came up and slapped an RBI double off the wall in left to give the Sox their first lead of the day 7-6. Bogaerts then would beat out an infield single up the middle that would score Betts. Martinez came up for his second at bat of the inning and came up with the second infield single in a row that capped off the six run sixth making it 9-6.
Boston (67-59) put it away in the seventh. Betts had an RBI sacrifice fly, Devers went over 100 RBI (101) with a two run homerun deep into the seats down the right field line, and Martinez drove in Bogaerts with a single to extend to a 13-6 lead. Baltimore (39-85) has lost seven straight games, but did pick up the final run of the game on a sacrifice fly RBI by Nunez in the ninth. Eovaldi had a final line of 2.0 innings allowing five runs on three hits, with three walks and one strikeout. Marcus Walden (8-2) got the win out of the bullpen. The combination of Hernandez, Ryan Brasier, Josh Taylor, Walden, Andrew Cashner, and Travis Lakins allowed two runs on six hits with nine strikeouts in 7.0 innings. Devers led the way offensively with four hits and four RBI. He now has an eight game hit streak in which he has gone 20 for 37 with eight doubles, four homers, and 14 RBI. Martinez and Moreland had three hits each, while Bogaerts and Vazquez each added two as part of a 16 hit attack. Paul Fry (1-5) took the loss for Baltimore in relief. Blach ended up allowing five runs on five hits in 5.1 innings. Nunez had four RBI, and Jonathan Villar and Alberto had two hits each to lead the Orioles.
Boston stays at home and has a day off Monday before opening a short two game Interleague series with the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night at 7:10 p.m. The Red Sox haven’t announced a starter yet, while Philadelphia is scheduled to go with Aaron Nola.
Boston third baseman Rafael Devers gets into position as a pitch is thrown in a game earlier this season at Fenway Park. Devers ran his hitting streak to eight games on Sunday with four hits and four runs driven in as the Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles. Photo courtesy of Delaney Gardner
