Davis Hits 47th Homer But Orioles Lose To Red Sox
BOSTON (AP) -- One night after getting banged around Fenway Park, the Baltimore Orioles could only watch as pinch hitter Mike Carp's blooper fell softly onto the grass.
Carp's floater dropped into left in the eighth inning, landing just beyond the glove of Baltimore third baseman Manny Machado and scoring Jarrod Saltalamacchia from second base with the tiebreaking run to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 win on Wednesday night.
"I thought I had it," Machado said. "Just a little bit short. Jumped too early."
Saltalamacchia hit a two-out double high off the left-field wall against Tommy Hunter (3-3) and Stephen Drew was walked intentionally before Carp's bloop fell just past the glove off Machado in short left field.
One night after the Red Sox hammered Baltimore's pitching for a 13-2 win, the Orioles bullpen squandered a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning.
"Luck hasn't been on our side," Machado said. "We've been struggling lately. It's been like that the whole year, but there's a lot of baseball left to be played. Scratch this off, come out and play baseball tomorrow."
Chris Davis hit his major league-leading 47th homer and added an RBI double for Baltimore, which lost for the sixth time in its last eight games.
"It's not necessarily one that got away," manager Buck Showalter said. "They just dumped one in over there."
Baltimore starter Bud Norris held Boston to one run and four hits, striking out seven and walking four over 5 1/3 innings. He lost to the Red Sox when he was with Houston on April 28, giving up five runs in six innings.
"These guys scored some runs early to give me a little cushion, so my focus is putting up a zero on every scoreboard, every half inning," Norris said. "As long as I could go and, Buck, he made the decision and I'm OK with it, handing the ball off to the bullpen. I feel confident doing that every time."
Shane Victorino drove in a run for Boston with an RBI single after collecting a career-best seven RBIs and hitting two homers on Tuesday night. Craig Breslow (4-2) got two outs to earn the win and Koji Uehara got his 14th save with a perfect ninth for the AL East-leading Red Sox, who won their fourth straight.
The Red Sox rallied against Baltimore's bullpen, tying it 3-3 on Dustin Pedroia's two-run single off Darren O'Day in the seventh. Jacoby Ellsbury barely beat center fielder Adam Jones' throw to the plate, sliding in before a sweeping tag attempt by Matt Wieters.
Ellsbury left the game for a defensive replacement in the top of the eighth. During his seventh inning at-bat, he fouled a ball off his right foot.
With the Orioles leading 2-1 in the sixth, Davis belted a leadoff homer into Boston's bullpen.
The Orioles had grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first on Davis' RBI double into the right-field corner after Machado singled. They made it 2-0 in the third on Machado's homer over the Green Monster.
Boston starter John Lackey lasted 7 1-3 innings, giving up three runs, seven hits, striking out four and walking one.
The Red Sox cut it to 2-1 on Victorino's RBI single in the third, but they left the bases loaded when David Ortiz struck out swinging and Daniel Nava was called out on strikes.
Ortiz, mired in a 0-for-18 slump, flew out to the left-field track twice in four at-bats. After the second one, which was caught in the corner for the final out of the fifth, he stood at first base for a while, looking toward the outfield before slowly walking to the dugout and slamming his helmet.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
