Betts Blasts Two More Homers As Red Sox Beat Orioles
BALTIMORE -- Mookie Betts homered twice Tuesday, including a tiebreaking two-run shot in the top of the eighth inning that gave the Boston Red Sox a 5-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
Boston (66-52) earned its fifth consecutive win and pulled into a tie with Baltimore (66-52) for second place in the American League East. Both teams were a half-game back of Toronto (67-52) pending the Blue Jays' result later Tuesday against the New York Yankees.
Betts drove in all five Red Sox runs with a three-run homer and the two-run blast. He has hit eight homers against Baltimore this year, and he has three multi-homer efforts at Camden Yards.
He belted three home runs Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he is 7-for-13 with five homers and 13 RBIs in the past three games.
The right fielder hit three homers on May 31 and added two more the next day. Also, Betts has eight homers and 22 RBIs in his past 16 games.
His three-run homer in the fifth off starter Yovani Gallardo gave the Red Sox a 3-0 lead as Baltimore remained quiet on offense early.
The Orioles did not get a hit until the seventh, when Steve Pearce reached on an infield single off reliever Matt Barnes. Pearce and Mark Trumbo then scored on Matt Wieters' two-run single off Fernando Abad two batters later.
Baltimore tied it when Adam Jones drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs later in the inning off Brad Ziegler (1-3). However, Ziegler struck out Jonathan Schoop with the bases loaded to keep the game even and set the stage for the Betts homer off Brad Brach (7-2) in the eighth.
Boston eventually used six pitchers, and Craig Kimbrel closed it in the ninth for his 21st save.
Gallardo gave up three runs on four hits in five innings, all of the runs coming on the Betts homer in the fifth. He walked five, one in each inning, and struck out two while often pitching from behind in the count.
Boston threatened a few times in the early innings but came up empty. The Red Sox left the bases loaded in the third before finally breaking through in the fifth.
Andrew Benintendi led off with a double off the wall in right and Xander Bogaerts drew a one-out walk. Betts then crushed his two-out, three-run homer to left on the first pitch from Gallardo, giving the Red Sox a 3-0 lead.
Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez breezed through the first four innings, not allowing a hit, but came out because of left hamstring tightness after two pitches in the fifth. Barnes came on to replace him and completed a walk to Pearce before retiring the next three batters.
Rodriguez finished with seven strikeouts and two walks.
NOTES: OF Joey Rickard will have his injured thumb examined Wednesday, and manager Buck Showalter said the Orioles hope he will be cleared to resume baseball activities soon. ... Baltimore pitching coach Dave Wallace (personal) needed to go home for three days, which means Dom Chiti takes over his role while Brian Graham will become the bullpen coach. ... Manager John Farrell said the Red Sox have had internal discussions about RHP Jonathan Papelbon, who was recently released by Washington. Should Papelbon sign with Boston, Farrell said he would not be a closer. ... Farrell also said that INF Hanley Ramirez, presently on the bereavement list, is scheduled to come back to the team on Thursday in Detroit and would miss both games of the brief series in Baltimore.