BALTIMORE
The night began with promise as Aaron Cook was perfect for three innings, and still had a no-hitter through five. But, it all imploded for the righthander and the Red Sox in the sixth inning of what turned into a 5-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles Wednesday night at Camden Yards.
Cook (3-6) gave up five runs (two earned) on three hits and three walks in five-plus innings and was chased when Baltimore broke it wide open with a five-run eruption in the sixth.
Mark Reynolds, who homered twice in Tuesday night’s 7-1 victory over the Red Sox, delivered the big blow with a two-run double to left off reliever Junichi Tazawa — a ball Carl Crawford seemed to badly misplay — to give the Orioles a 5-2 lead.
Things only got worse for the Sox (57-61), who lost for the eighth time in 11 games against the Orioles this season, when first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was ejected by home plate umpire Mike Everitt in the eighth as he made a few parting comments on his way to the dugout after grounding out to second.
Through five innings, Cook had faced only two batters above the minimum and thrown 35 pitches, 25 strikes.
Leading 2-0 in the sixth, it all went awry for Cook.
After getting leadoff hitter Omar Quintanilla to ground to second, Cook walked Nick Markakis, then saw his no-hit bid spoiled when J.J. Hardy smashed a single to left.
Cook’s bid for a shutout went by the wayside when Nate McLouth ripped a single to right, scoring Markakis and advancing Hardy to third. McLouth went to third on a throwing error by Cook. Wieters drove Cook from the game when he belted a ground-rule double to left that eluded Crawford, driving in McLouth with the go-ahead run, 3-2.
Tazawa gave up the two-run double to left by Reynolds, driving in Wieters and Davis to make it 5-2.
Boston got to within two runs in the seventh. Nick Punto reached on an error, Ellsbury singled and Crawford drove in a run with a groundball to second.
• Who: Boston Red Sox at
Baltimore Orioles.
• Where: Camden Yard.
• When: 7:05 p.m. tonight.
• Starting pitchers: Boston
(Clay Buchholz 10-3) vs.
Baltimore (Chris Tillman 5-
2).
• TV: NESN.
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