Red Sox Live Blog: Orioles Beat Red Sox 9-7 In Fenway Opener

By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston

Final, 9-7 Orioles: And that's all she wrote. Hanley Ramirez went down swinging, and the Red Sox have lost their home opener.

Not a great showing at all for the two big name pitching acquisitions, as Price struggled in his five innings of work, and Kimbrel served up the game-winning tater by Chris Davis.

Bottom 9th, 2 outs, 9-7 Orioles: Huge play by Schoop, who dropped to one knee to field an Ortiz grounder. He flipped to Hardy, who fired a strike to first base to double him up. That leaves just one runner on third and two outs for Ramirez.

The Red Sox challenged the play, seemingly because they had nothing else to lose, but it was unsuccessful.

Bottom 9th, 0 out, 9-7 Orioles: Life indeed. Pedroia followed up the homer with a single, and Bogaerts walked. It's two on, nobody out for David Ortiz, who represents the winning run at the plate.

Bottom 9th,  0 out, 9-7 Orioles: Life? Maybe. Mookie Betts just ended a long battle with Zach Britton by launching one into the Monster seats.

Middle 9th, 9-6 Orioles: Craig Kimbrel came on to make his Fenway debut in a Sox uniform, and ... it was ugly.

He got a quick out from Ryan Flaherty, but then walked Joseph. Rickard struck out swinging at a 97 mph fastball, but Machado then walked on four pitches.

With two on and two out, Chris Davis stepped to the plate. He absolutely demolished the second pitch of the at-bat, sending it over the center-field wall and giving Baltimore a three-run lead.

The Price and Kimbrel debuts this afternoon did not go as the Red Sox planned.

End 8th, 6-6: This one will head to the ninth tied, after the Sox went down in order against Brad Brach.

Middle 8th, 6-6: That was some vintage Koji right there, as he buzzed right through the Orioles in short order. He got Wieters to ... oddly whiff on a bunt attempt with two strikes to start the inning. Then he got Hardy to flail helplessly at a splitter in the dirt for a second straight strikeout.

Schoop then flew out to left to end the inning, and Uehara needed just nine pitches to get through it.

End 7th, 6-6: Mychal Givens had an impressive outing. He's going to be tough for righties to hit, as evidenced by strikeouts by Pedroia, Betts and Young.

Ortiz did make it interesting, as he banked a double off the Monster two pitches after he had, really, earned a walk. Givens then intentionally walked Ramirez, bringing up Young in a big spot. But Givens hammered the inside edge of the plate, and Young was no match. This one heads to the eighth tied at six, and Koji Uehara is coming on for Boston.

Middle 7th, 6-6: Machado smoked a one-out single into right field and advanced to second base on a wild pitch, but Tazawa got himself out of it. After striking out Rickard to start the frame, he got Davis to go down swinging. With two outs, Trumbo sent a soft liner into left, but Young came on and made the inning-ending catch.

End 6th, 6-6: Sidewinder Mychal Givens got Betts to strike out swinging, but not before the Sox tied it up. It's a three-inning game now.

Junichi Tazawa is on for Boston.

Bottom 6th, 2 outs, 6-6: Tied up once more.

Holt walked, Swihart singled, and Holt aggressively took third, just beating the bouncing throw from Rickard. Bradley then grounded into a fielder's choice, with the Orioles getting the out at second and allowing the run to score from third. Bradley was safe at first to beat out the would-be double play and allow the run to score, and it's a new ballgame once more.

Middle 6th, 6-5 Orioles: The score stays at 6-5, thanks to a great play by Brock Holt. With a runner on second and one out, Caleb Joseph hit a liner to left field. Holt made the catch while diving to the ground, and he quickly popped up to see Schoop was all the way to third base. Holt fired a strike to second base, and the Red Sox were out of the inning.

Top 6th, 6-5 Orioles: That was quick.

Hardy doubled deep to left-center, and Schoop smashed a double off the wall. The Orioles have the lead back.

End 5th, 5-5: The umpiring favored the Orioles that inning, first with Chris Davis getting the benefit of the doubt for keeping his foot on the bag, and then with a bad strike three call on Ortiz. Instead of having potentially two runners on, the Red Sox had two outs. (Farrell probably couldn't have won a challenge on the Davis play; it was one of those instances where the call on the field was going to be upheld, no matter what it was.)

Hanley struck out to end the frame, and it's Matt Barnes coming on for the Red Sox.

Middle 5th, 5-5: It was not a great Fenway debut for Price, but if it's over, it ended with a bang, as he got Wieters to stare at a strike three to end the fifth.

Price pitched around a leadoff Macahdo single, getting Davis and Wieters to strike out, with a Trumbo pop-out in between. Ramirez made a pretty nice play over his head, running into right field to track that pop-up down. So far, so good with Hanley at first base.

Price is at 103 pitches.

End 4th, 5-5: Hey, look at that, it's a tie baseball game.

A Brock Holt walk, followed by a Swihart single, set up a first-and-third, nobody-out situation. Bradley hit a sky-high ball down the left field line, and Trumbo somehow couldn't even get close to it, allowing the ball to land along the line and bounce out of play for a ground-rule double. Holt scored on the play. Mookie Betts then grounded into a fielder's choice, bringing in the run from third, to tie this one up.

Worth noting that Bradley made a base-running blunder on that grounder by Betts, as Bradley ran into an out at third base instead of staying put at second. That mistake kept the double play in order for Baltimore, and sure enough, Pedroia grounded right into the inning-ending DP.

Middle 4th, 5-3 Orioles: That was a much better inning for Price, who allowed only a leadoff walk in sitting the O's down.

Price is at 84 pitches through four innings, so he'll need to be really economical in the fifth if he hopes to even make it to the sixth. Having six strikeouts and also getting into a heap-load of trouble is a recipe for driving up that pitch count.

End 3rd, 5-3 Orioles: A two-out error by Trumbo allowed Ramirez to reach base, but it was followed by a harmless Shaw fly-out to shallow center to end the inning, and the O's take their two-run lead into the fourth.

Middle 3rd, 5-3 Orioles: David Price is not having a wonderful time in his second time through the Baltimore lineup.

After striking out Reimold to start the inning, Caleb Joseph singled, Rickard walked, and Machado got "hit" by a pitch (in the pants). Chris Davis followed up with a two-RBI single, and then Mark Trumbo mashed a three-run homer to give the Orioles a 5-3 lead.

Price came back to get Wieters to strike out and Hardy to ground out to short to end the inning, but the damage had certainly been done.

End 2nd, 3-0 Red Sox: A two-out single by Betts goes for Naught, as Pedroia skied out to end the uneventful bottom of the second. Swihart flew out to left to start the inning, followed up by a Bradley strikeout.

Of note: The Orioles went into a shift against Bradley, and he tried to drop a bunt down the third base line for a gift of a single. He pushed it foul, but it's something Bradley should probably do every single time opponents shift on him. It's not that he can't hit for power, but for him to choose a gifted single is nothing like Ortiz opting for a single instead of swinging for the fences.

Middle 2nd, 3-0 Red Sox: Price retired the side in order, thanks to a dandy of a defensive play by Dustin Pedroia and ... Hanley Ramirez.

Pedroia broke up the middle to field a J.J. Hardy ground ball over the second base bag before making a leaping throw to first. There, Ramirez made a stretch for the ball which, frankly, nobody knew he could do until that exact moment. Yet he did, and it was his second nice play in as many innings over at first base.

Price sandwiched that out with strikeouts to Wieters and Schoop, both of whom went down swinging.

End 1st, 3-0 Red Sox: Hanley Ramirez followed up Ortiz's RBI single with a sacrifice fly to center, pushing the score to 3-0. Shaw grounded into a fielder's choice and then swiped second, despite a pitchout. Caleb Joseph's throw went into center field, allowing Shaw to take third.

But Holt grounded out to first to end the inning.

That took 23 pitches out of Gallardo, and Price now has a 3-0 lead.

Bottom 1st, 0 out, 2-0 Red Sox: Ortiz didn't disappoint, smoking a line drive to left field and using the Monster to his advantage to drive in Pedroia on a long single.

Bottom 1st, 0 out, 1-0 Red Sox: Quite the start for Boston. Betts led off with a single to right field, and Pedroia did the same at the end of a long battle with Gallardo. Up stepped Bogaerts, who sent a grounder back up through the box for an RBI single.

So it's 1-0, nobody out ... David Ortiz stepping up.

Middle 1st, 0-0: Price got himself into what looked like early trouble, surrendering a leadoff double to Rickard. But he came back and looked like the ace he's supposed to by getting a harmless Machado flyout to center, a flailing strikeout by Davis, and a groundout to short by Trumbo to end the inning and strand Rickard.

It did take a lot of pitches -- 21, to be exact -- but Price got out of the first unscathed.

The inning ended on a low throw by Bogaerts, which Ramirez scooped for the final out. Ramirez appeared to be just as surprised as everyone else when he scooped that one, and he celebrated by doffing his cap to the crowd on the way to the dugout.

Top 1st, 0-0: Price's first pitch to Joey Rickard was a ball outside. The game has begun.

2:04 p.m.: All right, now it's time for some actual baseball. David Price is on the bump, and first pitch is moments away.

One thing that's clear: it's windy out there. That may play some tricks on some high pop-ups and fly balls throughout the day.

1:55 p.m.: The Red Sox busted out the big dogs for the first pitch, as Bobby Orr, Bill Russell, Ty Law and ... David Ortiz.

Ortiz, who embraced Pedro Martinez before taking the field, assisted Russell out to the mound.

It's really quite the visual, seeing legends like Russell and Orr standing right next to Ortiz, who is, you know, playing in this game.

Pedro, Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield took the field to join Ortiz for the "Play ball!" announcement.

1:49 p.m.: Adding to Ortiz's final Fenway opener, the team had his daughter Alex sing the national anthem. And she could sing! Hey, how 'bout that?

1:39 p.m.: Pregame introductions are underway, and it should come as no surprise that David Ortiz received one of the loudest ovations before his final Fenway opener.

Manager John Farrell also received a loud ovation, introduced as having a clean bill of health after battling cancer during last season.

Pablo Sandoval, on the other hand, was booed pretty loudly.

1 p.m.: Roughly an hour to first pitch now, as Opening Day is in full swing.

Here's what the Orioles lineup will look like today:

1. Joey Rickard, CF
2. Manny Machado, 3B
3. Chris Davis, 1B
4. Mark Trumbo, LF
5. Matt Wieters, DH
6. J.J. Hardy, SS
7. Jonathan Schoop, 2B
8. Nolan Reimold, RF
9. Caleb Joseph, C

10:30 a.m.: If it worked once, why not try it again?

When the Red Sox take the field this afternoon at Fenway Park, they'll be rolling out the same lineup behind new ace David Price as the one that earned a 6-2 victory in Cleveland on the opening day of the season.

1. Mookie Betts, RF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Xander Bogaerts, SS
4. David Ortiz, DH
5. Hanley Ramirez, 1B
6. Travis Shaw, 3B
7. Brock Holt, LF
8. Blake Swihart, C
9. Jackie Bradley Jr., CF

The Orioles will counter with Yovani Gallardo, who allowed one earned run over five innings in his season debut.

First pitch will be at 2:05 p.m., and we'll have it all covered -- including the pregame fanfare -- right here in the live blog. Check back early and often as the Sox take on the undefeated (5-0) Baltimore Orioles.

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