The first time the Orioles met the Red Sox this season, the series left a sour taste in Birdland. Poor pitching, miscues and mental lapses left many wondering what would unfold.
Fast forward three weeks later, and the Orioles own the second best record in the AL, have won eight of their last nine and are using pitching, defense and late-game heroics to show the baseball world that the Orioles are not a fluke.
After winning the series two games to one, the Orioles finished their homestand 5-1 and have now won six of eight series they have played.
Let’s see how the games unfolded;
Game 1: O’s 5, BOS 4
Dean Kremer was coming off one of the best outings of his career and was ready to follow that up with another one. With the Red Sox having beat Kremer (0-4 against Boston coming in) once this season, they were not going to back down against the young righty.
Boston used home runs by Triston Casas (solo) and Rafael Devers (two-run) to help race out to a 4-0 lead. It looked like Chris Sale had this handled, and Boston was ready to jump on the Birds again.
Adam Fraizer, Austin Hays, James McCann and Ramón Urías (two RBIs) all collected RBIs to lead the attack and the comeback to take a 5-4 lead and let the pitching take over. Each player in the lineup collected at least one hit, and no one struck out the entire game.
Kremer (2-0) would finish with 5.2 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with a walk. He struck out five and picked up his second win of the season, his first against the Red Sox. Yennier Canó picked up his first save, locking up the 5-4 victory for the Birds.
Game 2: O’s 6, BOS 8
Kyle Bradish, like Kremer, was looking to follow a strong outing with another. Unfortunately, the Red Sox were ready to rain on that parade.
Bradish (1-1) would last just 2.1 innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits with four walks. It was a hole that the Orioles were not expecting to climb out of.
Jorge Mateo, Gunnar Henderson and Cedric Mullins had other ideas, though, as they were going to force Boston to fight for the game.
Mateo (4) would hit a solo home run in the fifth to get the Birds on the board. Come the bottom of the ninth, a grand slam by Mullins (3) and a solo shot from Henderson (2) would help the Orioles claw back before ultimately falling 8-6 to end their seven-game winning streak.
Game 3: O’s 6, BOS 2
The rubber game of this series was a lesson in small ball. The Orioles were ready to show Boston what a team working together could really do.
The O’s had two sacrifice bunts and three sacrifice flies (two by Anthony Santander) to help pace the team.
Cedric Mullins, Adley Rutschman, Anthony Santander (2), Ramón Urías and Ryan McKenna all collected RBIs to help Baltimore jump out to a 6-2 lead. From there, the rest was up to the pitching staff.
Tyler Wells (1-1) would lead the charge, tossing 5.2 innings. He would allow two earned runs, four hits and a walk while striking out seven.
From there, Danny Coulombe, Yennier Canó (tied a Baltimore record with 24 straight retired batters) and Félix Bautista would shut down the Sox. The Orioles would win 6-2 and take the series 2-1.
BATTERY ❌-FACTOR
The Orioles rode a six-game winning streak into the series against Boston. Relying on strong starting performances, the starting pitching was our BATTERY ❌-FACTOR coming into this series.
After allowing 27 runs (10.50 ERA) against Boston to open the season, the starters were under the microscope here. Though Bradish was the blemish, Kremer and Wells both had strong outings that helped lead the Birds to a series victory.
The starting staff combined to pitch 13 innings, allowing 13 runs. That’s a 14-run difference from the last time these two collided and also an inning more than last. Though the starting staff needs some more improvement, it was their outings that helped decide the series.
The Orioles now travel to Detroit for a four-game series against the Tigers. The series starts tomorrow at 6:40 p.m. EST.
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