Sports
Orioles take advantage of Red Sox errors in 16 3 rout
BOSTON— Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter would like to be back at Fenway Park to play games in October.
If his team can keep scoring runs like it has the last two games, he might just get his wish.
Mark Trumbo and Chris Davis had home runs, and the Baltimore Orioles used a seven-run fifth inning to power past the Boston Red Sox 16-3 on Friday night.
The 16 runs is a season-high for the Orioles, who have won three out their last four as they try to stay in the mix for one of the American League’s wild-card spots. Trey Mancini led Baltimore with four RBIs.
Boston lost two straight for the first time in a month as injuries continued to mount for the AL East leaders. And once again, a slide by Orioles star Manny Machado hurt a Red Sox second baseman.
Two nights after losing centre fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. to a sprained thumb, utilityman Eduardo Nunez exited in the second inning with a left wrist and thumb sprain after he was brushed by Machado on a hard slide into second. X-rays were negative, and he is day-to-day.
Earlier this year, a late slide by Machado injured Red Sox star second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s knee, hobbling him for much of the season.
Jeremy Hellickson (8-7) allowed four hits and three runs over seven innings to pick up his second win in an Orioles uniform.
“Probably scored too many runs, actually,” Hellickson said of the run support. “(By the) fifth inning I felt like I haven’t thrown the whole game. You can’t say enough about this offence.”
With the loss Rick Porcello (8-15) snapped a string of four straight wins, surrendering a career-high 11 runs off nine hits before getting pulled in the fifth.
Boston’s defence also struggled, committing a season-high five errors. The 16 runs tied the most allowed this season by the Red Sox.
“It seemed like every pitch we threw over the plate they squared up,” manager John Farrell said.
Things fell apart early for Porcello, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, who looked to be turning a corner after a poor start to 2017.
He gave up five runs off five hits in the first two innings, including the home run to Trumbo, to go along with a throwing error and a wild pitch.
“You saw it. I threw it. They hit it,” Porcello said.
Porcello has given up 31 home runs this season, the most by a Red Sox pitcher since Josh Beckett surrendered 36 in 2006.
Meanwhile, Baltimore has scored 24 runs over its last two games.
BACK IN BOSTON
Orioles star Adam Jones played for the first time at Fenway Park since a tense series in early May during which he was the target of racial taunts by fans. The Red Sox organization apologized to Jones, and the centre fielder was later given a standing ovation by the Boston crowd.
Before the game Jones declined to discuss his thoughts about the incident coming back for this latest visit. He also had no comment on Red Sox owner John Henry saying he would ask the city to rename Yawkey Way, the street alongside Fenway Park, to change what Henry called a haunting reminder of the ballclub’s history of racial intolerance.
PITCHING IN
With the game well out of hand, first baseman Mitch Moreland came on to pitch the ninth inning for the Red Sox. He was the final Boston pitcher of the night. He faced four batters and struck out one. His final pitch of the night registered 94 mph on the scoreboard, but Moreland was skeptical.
“They might have juiced it up a little bit,” he said.
RUNNING IT UP
Boston hasn’t given up 13 runs in consecutive games since 2006, when it gave up 39 over a three-game stretch to the New York Yankees.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: LHP Zach Britton said before the game that an MRI on his sore left knee revealed that it is “not anything serious,” adding that it is structurally in good shape. Showalter wouldn’t say when his closer might pitch again, but added “very soon I hope.”
Red Sox: Mookie Betts was back in the lineup Friday, a night after leaving in the seventh inning of Boston’s loss at Cleveland with a bruised right knee after a diving catch attempt. … Farrell said Bradley (left thumb sprain) is showing improvement and doing strengthening activity. Dustin Pedroia (left knee swelling) is taking batting practice again, and David Price (left elbow sprain) had advanced to throwing at 120 feet
