Rick Porcello became the latest to get hit hard, allowing eight runs and 12 hits in five innings and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 8-3 on Sunday.
Boston’s starters have a 6.24 ERA through its first 12 games.
Boston sends Justin Masterson (1-0, 7.59 ERA) in Monday’s Patriots’ Day series finale. He allowed seven runs in 4 2-3 innings in his previous start.
Porcello (1-2) also gave up two homers, and didn’t help himself when he was late covering first.
Adam Jones went 4 for 5 with a three-run double and two-run homer to match his career high with five RBIs, carrying the Orioles.
Ryan Flaherty added a solo homer and Jimmy Paredes three singles for the Orioles, who won for the second straight day after losing the series opener.
Hanley Ramirez hit a threerun homer and two hits for Boston, which needs to win Monday to avoid losing its first series.
Jones raised his average to .457 with five homers and 16 RBIs, and also equaled his career best with the four hits.
Miguel Gonzalez (2-1) pitched five innings for the victory, allowing three runs and five hits.
Boston DH David Ortiz was ejected by home plate umpire John Tumpane, who replaced original plate ump Paul Emmel. He was upset by third base ump Jerry Meals calling a swing on an attempted check of a 1-1 pitch.
The Orioles broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth. Travis Snider had an RBI single and Manny Machado a sacrifice fly.
Jones’ three-run double off the left-center field wall chased Porcello and made it 8- 3 in the sixth.
Trailing 2-0, Boston jumped ahead on Ramirez’s homer that caromed off a billboard above the Green Monster seats and onto the field. Flaherty’s home run tied it at 3-3.
Jones’ homer went completely out of Fenway Park, clearing the Monster seats, in the first.
Saturday
Clay Buchholz gave up 11 hits in six innings Saturday, but limited the Orioles to just two runs in Boston’s 4-1 loss to Baltimore.
Coming off a miserable start when he gave up nine runs over 3 1-3 innings in a loss at Yankee Stadium last Sunday, Buchholz loaded the bases in the fourth and fifth innings but kept the score close with the help of a double play and a pair of strikeouts.
Buchholz (1-2) is winless since pitching seven shut-out innings to beat Cole Hamels in Philadelphia on opening day. Buchholz labored through his innings Saturday, taking lengthy periods between pitches with runners on base.
David Ortiz went 3 for 3 with a double and two singles for the Red Sox, who lost for the third time in their last nine games. Brock Holt had three singles.
Chris Tillman (2-1) rebounded from a rough outing and helped lead the Orioles. In his first start of the season, at home last Sunday, Tillman allowed seven runs in 2 2-3 innings in a 10-7 loss to Toronto.
Chris Davis hit a two-run homer, and Adam Jones had three singles for the Orioles, who moved back over .500 at 6- 5.
With the Orioles leading 2-1 in the ninth, Davis hit an opposite field off Robbie Ross Jr. into the first row of Green Monster seats in left field.
Manny Machado’s run-scoring groundout and Caleb Joseph’s RBI single put Baltimore ahead in the fourth.
Boston closed in the sixth when Ortiz doubled and scored on Pablo Sandoval’s slow roller down the first-base line.
Friday
Xander Bogaerts blooped a winning single with one out in the ninth inning and the Boston Red Sox won a game that included a couple of much harder hits, edging the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 Friday night.
Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez held the Red Sox hitless for 3 2-3 innings before being ejected when he plunked Pablo Sandoval with a pitch.
In the second, Sandoval took out second baseman Jonathan Schoop with a hard slide on a force play. Sandoval missed Boston’s previous game Wednesday, a day after bruising his left foot when he was hit by a pitch.
Mike Napoli began the ninth with a walk from Brian Matusz (0-1) and Daniel Nava sacrificed. Tommy Hunter relieved, and Bogaerts hit a ball over Schoop and in front of right fielder Travis Snider.
Napoli easily beat the throw home on Boston’s fourth hit of the game.
Koji Uehara (1-0) struck out two in a perfect ninth for the win.
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