BOSTON — The common scene Saturday at Fenway Park was baserunners taking off their helmets and waiting for a teammate to bring out their gloves.
Stranded runners and squandered chances ruled as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-1.
Baltimore left 10 men on, including two failed bases-loaded opportunities. But the Orioles never trailed and Chris Davis bolstered a 2-1 lead with a two-run homer off reliever Robby Ross in the ninth inning.
The Red Sox stranded seven. Three times, Boston put runners in scoring position and had the clutch-hitting Dustin Pedroia batting.
Pedroia grounded out in the third, then struck out in the fifth and seventh.
“We had our opportunities,” Manager John Farrell said.
Clay Buchholz (1-2) lost his second straight, giving up two runs on 11 hits in six innings.
Buchholz constantly pitched out of jams but began the fourth by allowing an Adam Jones single and a Jimmy Paredes double on a fly to left field that Hanley Ramirez couldn’t reach.
Jones scored on a Manny Machado groundout. Then Caleb Joseph grounded a single past a drawn-in infield, scoring Parades for a 2-0 lead.
The Red Sox scored in the sixth after David Ortiz led off with a double to right and reached third on Ramirez’s grounder.
Pablo Sandoval hit a dribbler that pitcher Chris Tillman couldn’t handle – Ortiz would have scored anyway and Sandoval got an RBI despite the error.
Tillman then gave up a single to Mike Napoli and yielded to reliever Brad Brach. He got Daniel Nava to hit into a double play.
Tillman (2-1) allowed six hits in 51/3 innings.
Boston totaled seven hits with three each from Ortiz and Brock Holt, who started in center, giving Mookie Betts a day off.
Holt is batting .579 (11 for 19).
Although Holt is a utility player, Farrell said, “my personal goal is to keep Brock in the mix as much as possible.”
Copy the Story LinkSend 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.