BOSTON — Ronny Paulino ended a hitless night with an RBI single in the 10th inning to drive in the go-ahead run and the Baltimore Orioles hung on for an 8-6 win over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.
The Orioles recovered from Jim Johnson’s first blown save opportunity of the season when Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie it 6-all and force extra innings.
Additional Photos
Instead of getting his 18th save, Johnson (1-0) got his first win with a perfect 10th inning as Baltimore improved to 4-0 at Fenway Park this season.
Alfredo Aceves (0-3) walked Mark Reynolds to lead off the 10th and he advanced to second on a bunt by Steve Pearce, who converted his second sacrifice of the game and put the go-ahead run in scoring position.
Paulino had been 0 for 4 before delivering a single to center to put the Orioles up 7-6.
Pinch-hitter Ryan Flaherty, a Portlamd native, and Endy Chavez followed with back-to-back singles to right, the second scoring Paulino and giving Baltimore an 8-6 lead entering the bottom of the 10th.
The Red Sox couldn’t strike twice against Johnson, who had converted 25 straight save opportunities dating to last season.
The Orioles got five hits in the seventh – all singles – and scored three to go up 6-4.
Boston starter Jon Lester was pulled for Scott Atchison after Chavez led off the seventh with a single to left.
Robert Andino singled right away off Atchison and J.J. Hardy followed with a single that scored Chavez and tied the game at 4. The Orioles still had runners at first and second with nobody out when Adam Jones grounded hard right to Atchison for a potential double play, but Jones was able to outrun the throw.
Boston intentionally walked Matt Wieters to load the bases with one out, then Reynolds blooped a single to right to score Andino and reload the bases for Pearce, who drove his second run in with a single to right to make it 6-4. Matt Albers got out of the jam with no further damage when Paulino grounded into a double play.
Two of Baltimore’s three runs were charged to Atchison, who had not allowed a run in a career-high 192/3 innings.
Baltimore starter Jason Hammel was pulled after throwing 106 pitches in five innings. He threw 31 in the fifth alone as Boston took advantage of an error and scored twice to tie the game at 2-2.
Reynolds couldn’t field Daniel Nava’s grounder when it took a tough hop and was called for an error, which was overturned later in the game. Mike Aviles followed with a single, then Scott Podsednik laid down a sacrifice bunt down the first-base line. Reynolds was charging and fielded it quickly, but his throw to try to get Nava at third got past Steve Tolleson and the ball rolled into the photographers’ area out of play.
Aviles scored on Dustin Pedroia’s shallow fly to center to tie it at 2-all.
NOTES: Pedroia returned after missing six games with a thumb injury … The Orioles swept the Red Sox 3-0 last month in a series at Boston.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.