Holt's 8th-Inning HR Lifts Red Sox Past Skidding Orioles 7-5
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Brock Holt hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer off Darren O'Day in the eighth inning, and the Boston Red Sox beat Baltimore 7-5 Friday night to extend the Orioles' losing streak to five games.
David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez also connected for the Red Sox, who have won three of five this season against the defending AL East champions.
Jimmy Paredes and Chris Davis homered for the last-place Orioles, whose five-game skid is their longest since September 2013.
After Tommy Hunter retired the first two Boston batters in the eighth, Brian Matusz (0-2) walked Pablo Sandoval. Pinch-hitter Allen Craig then hit a sharp bouncer off O'Day that skipped past third baseman Manny Machado, who was charged with an error.
Holt followed with a drive over the right-field scoreboard, his first homer since Sept 4, to bring home three unearned runs and make it 7-4.
Alexi Ogando (1-0) struck out Machado with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh after Everth Cabrera hit a tying sacrifice fly.
Junichi Tazawa gave up a solo shot to Davis in the eighth, but Koji Uehara worked the ninth for his third save.
Miguel Gonzalez allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings for Baltimore. It was only the fifth time in his last 30 starts that the right-hander yielded as many as four earned runs.
Boston starter Rick Porcello gave up four runs and six hits in six-plus innings. In his previous outing, also against Baltimore, the right-hander allowed eight runs and a career-high 12 hits.
Porcello struck out the first five batters he faced and didn't give up a hit until Machado singled with one out in the fourth. Paredes followed with a shot to right for a 2-0 lead.
The advantage didn't last long.
Gonzalez retired the first two batters in the fifth before Mookie Betts walked and Dustin Pedroia singled to set the stage for Boston's first back-to-back homers of the season. Ortiz hit a three-run drive to right that barely cleared the outstretched glove of a leaping Delmon Young, and Ramirez crushed a no-doubt shot to left.
Baltimore got a run back in the bottom half when Rey Navarro doubled and scored on a single by Cabrera. Navarro was playing in his first major league game after a long run in the minors that began in 2007.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Red Sox: RF Shane Victorino missed a second straight game with a sore right hamstring. The injury occurred Wednesday night against Tampa Bay.
Orioles: Baltimore placed INF Ryan Flaherty on the 15-day disabled list with a right groin strain and recalled Navarro from Triple-A Norfolk. Flaherty is one of three Orioles infielders on the DL, along with SS J.J. Hardy and 2B Jonathan Schoop.
UP NEXT
Red Sox: Justin Masterson (2-0, 5.74 ERA) seeks his second win over the Orioles in a five-day span Saturday night. The right-hander is 3-0 against Baltimore as a member of the Red Sox.
Orioles: Wei-Yin Chen (0-1, 3.07 ERA) issued five walks and gave up five unearned runs in a loss to Boston on Monday.
(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
