BALTIMORE – Chris Davis singled home the tiebreaking run with two outs in the 13th inning, giving the Baltimore Orioles an exhausting 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox in the opener of a four-game series between AL East contenders.

Danny Valencia homered for the Orioles, who moved into second place and within 2½ games of Boston. Baltimore won despite leaving 16 on base and going 4 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

With two outs in the 13th, Nick Markakis drew a walk from Alex Wilson (1-1). Adam Jones singled and Davis followed with an opposite-field pop that landed in front of left fielder Daniel Nava.

T.J. McFarland (1-0) pitched the 13th to earn his first major league win. The Orioles used seven pitchers, none of whom issued a walk.

It was the longest game of the season for Baltimore, in terms of innings and time (4:35). Boston went 14 innings Monday at Tampa Bay

David Ortiz hit his team-high 14th homer for the Red Sox, and Mike Carp followed with a long ball of his own. Baltimore is the only AL East team that Boston has a losing record against (1-3).

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Orioles rookie Kevin Gausman allowed two runs and six hits over 51/3 innings in his fifth big league start, striking out five and walking none. The 22-year-old left the mound with a 4-2 lead and in position to earn his first career win, but the bullpen gave up the advantage.

Gausman, the fourth pick in the 2012 draft, never pitched above Double-A before making his debut with Baltimore on May 23. He has a 1.54 ERA in two home starts and is 0-3 with a 12.15 ERA on the road.

Boston tied it at 4 in the seventh against Brian Matusz. Three straight singles loaded the bases for Stephen Drew, who hit a sacrifice fly. Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a run-scoring fielder’s choice, barely beating the relay to first base.

Red Sox starter Felix Doubront allowed three earned runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings, his shortest outing since May 3.

Baltimore took a 3-0 lead in the third. Valencia led off with his fourth homer, and Ryan Flaherty doubled and advanced on a bunt before Manny Machado blooped a broken-bat RBI single up the middle. Singles by Markakis and Davis produced another run.

Gausman retired seven straight batters before Ortiz and Carp connected in succession with two outs in the fourth. Carp entered in the third inning for starter Mike Napoli, who left with an unspecified illness.

In the Baltimore fifth, Markakis reached on an error by third baseman Will Middlebrooks and Doubront hit Jones with a pitch before Matt Wieters grounded an RBI single into left, his first hit against Doubront in 13 career at-bats. After a walk to J.J. Hardy loaded the bases, reliever Franklin Morales retired Valencia on a popup.

NOTES: The Red Sox recalled Wilson from Triple-A Pawtucket and optioned RHP Alfredo Aceves to the same club. … Ellsbury’s 11-game hitting streak ended, as did his streak of 10 games scoring a run. … Boston Manager John Farrell named Jon Lester his starter for Sunday’s series finale. … Clay Buchholz was pushed back to Tuesday at the earliest because of a sore neck. “We won’t put him out there until he’s symptom-free,” Farrell said. … Chris Tillman (6-2) will start for Baltimore on Friday night against Ryan Dempster (4-6).

 


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