Red Sox Shutout Baltimore
BOSTON (CBS) -- Craig Breslow allowed only two hits and two walks while striking struck out two in a scoreless four-inning spot start to set the tone in the Boston Red Sox's 8-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday at Fenway Park.
Breslow, a left-handed reliever, threw 55 pitches in his first career start, which came at the age of 35. That made him the oldest Red Sox pitcher at the time of his first start, edging Scott Atchison, whose debut start with Boston came at the age of 34 years and 75 days in 2010.
Boston (74-80) used six pitchers in relief of Breslow, and they combined to hold Baltimore (76-78) scoreless on three more hits, three walks, and two strikeouts over the final five innings.
Heath Hembree (2-0) was credited with the victory after pitching a scoreless fifth for Boston.
Red Sox second baseman Josh Rutledge led the way with two RBIs while third baseman Brock Holt and right fielder Mookie Betts each drove in a run.
Baltimore left-hander Wei-Yin Chen (10-8) struck out seven, but took the loss after giving up two runs on five hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings.
Five Orioles batters recorded hits in the shutout loss.
Holt walked with one out in the fifth to break a string of eight consecutive batters retired by Chen, five of which came via strikeouts.
Rutledge rolled a double down the line in left, allowing Holt to score Boston's first run. An inning later, Holt drove in a run with a single up the middle to put Boston up 2-0.
Rutledge drove in another run on an eight-inning groundout and Betts tallied his RBI on a ground-rule double later in the inning.
A couple of hard-hit balls by Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts in the seventh and eighth resulted in a pair of two-run fielding errors by Orioles third baseman Manny Machado.
NOTES: Boston 3B Pablo Sandoval (pneumonia) missed his sixth straight game. Sandoval looked better, but was not well enough to play, interim manager Torey Lovullo said. ... Orioles CF Adam Jones (back) missed his fifth game in a row, but was seen running and throwing in the outfield before the game. ... Baltimore RHP Miguel Gonzalez (shoulder) will be activated from the disabled list to start Tuesday. ... Boston 1B Sam Travis was named the team's Minor League Offensive Player of the Year and LHP Williams Jerez was the Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Travis hit .307 with 78 RBIs in 131 games while Jerez was 5-3 with a 2.54 ERA in 41 appearances.