BALTIMORE— Brandon Workman allowed one hit over 62/3 innings, and the Boston Red Sox beat Chris Tillman and the Baltimore Orioles 1-0 on Tuesday night for their second win in eight games.
Mike Napoli’s third-inning RBI single was all the offense the Red Sox needed to come out on the positive end of a pitcher’s duel for the first time this season. Boston was 0-18 when scoring fewer than three runs.
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Who: Boston Red Sox (De La Rosa 1-1) at Baltimore Orioles (Chen 6-2)
When: 7:05 p.m. Wednesday
Television: NESN
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Workman (1-0) walked one and struck out four in earning his first win as a starter since last July. The right-hander held the Orioles hitless until Ryan Flaherty, a Deering High graduate, lined a soft single to center with two outs in the sixth.
Baltimore’s only other hit was a single by Steve Pearce in the ninth off Koji Uehara, who earned his 13th save.
Workman will have a hearing Friday on his appeal of a six-game suspension. He was suspended after the league determined he was intentionally throwing in the “head area” of Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria on May 30.
After retiring Nick Markakis to end the sixth inning, Workman got two straight outs in the seventh before being lifted. It was the longest outing of a 27-game career that includes seven starts.
Tillman (5-3) gave up one run and seven hits in six innings. It was his first loss in six starts since May 11.
Manny Machado started at third base for the Orioles despite receiving a five-game suspension and a fine for intentionally throwing his bat in Sunday’s game against Oakland. Machado appealed the suspension, batted second and went 0 for 4.
The game was twice delayed by rain, both times in the second inning. The first stoppage took 15 minutes; the second lasted 1:18.
Workman retired the first 13 batters before Nelson Cruz drew a walk. J.J. Hardy followed with a pop-up to second base, and Cruz apparently lost track of the ball. He took off for second and was easily doubled up.
Earlier, Boston third baseman Xander Bogaerts robbed the Orioles of two potential hits in the third inning. He snagged a bunt by David Lough and threw out the fleet runner, then made a diving stab of a line drive by Flaherty.
Tillman got off to a rocky start following the second rain delay. Brock Holt led off the third with a single, David Ortiz walked and Napoli delivered a two-out, opposite-field RBI single to right.
Boston used three straight singles to load the bases with no outs in the fourth. Tillman struck out Holt, then got Bogaerts to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play.
Over the first four innings, the Red Sox had seven hits and three walks but scored only the one run after stranding seven and hitting into two double plays.
NOTES: Red Sox GM Ben Cherington said before the game that an overhaul of the roster is not yet necessary for the struggling team. “I’m betting on the players we have in there,” he said.
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