Red Sox Defeat Orioles 8-6
BOSTON (AP) -- Even a six-run inning wasn't enough for the Baltimore Orioles to end their pre-All Star Game skid.
Not in this series.
Boston answered Baltimore's six-run second inning and didn't allow the Orioles to score again, sweeping the four-game series with an 8-6 win on Sunday.
The Red Sox outscored the Orioles 32-13 in the series and sent the Orioles into the All-Star break with a seven-game losing streak.
"Hopefully guys get as far away as possible from it and come back and play these last 74 games like we have at times this year," said manager Buck Showalter, who watched the end of the game from the clubhouse after he and reliever Michael Gonzalez were ejected for a pitch thrown behind Boston designated hitter David Ortiz, who had charged the mound and sparked a bench-clearing brawl earlier in the season.
Showalter said he would have ejected Gonzalez, too, but he was unclear why Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie was issued a warning the previous inning for hitting Kevin Youkilis on a changeup to load the bases with one out.
Guthrie then walked Ortiz, putting Boston back up 7-6 and the Red Sox added a run in the seventh.
"The umpires have to control it but sometimes they show a lack of feel — not understanding really what's going on," said Guthrie (3-12). "You've got (runners at) first and third and you throw a changeup to a guy, trying to get a ground ball, and I miss up and in."
Boston rookie Kyle Weiland and manager Terry Francona were ejected in the fifth when Weiland hit Vladimir Gurrero.
When Gonzalez came inside the following inning with a fastball that was well behind Ortiz, plate umpire Marty Foster tossed Gonzalez right away.
Gonzalez wouldn't say afterward whether the pitch was intentional.
"The series was frustrating the whole way," Gonzalez said.
Especially on Sunday, when the Orioles rebounded from a shutout the day before with six runs in the second inning. Baltimore opened the fifth with a triple by Adam Jones and Guerrero reached when he was hit by Weiland.
The Orioles would have much rather continued facing Weiland, who was making his Major League debut, than have to go against Boston's bullpen. Reliever Alfredo Aceves (4-1) got three quick outs for Boston and ended the Orioles' threat to tie it or take the lead.
"That was a key part of the ballgame," Showalter said. "We've got a man on third and nobody out and once again we can't push him over."
The Orioles took a 6-2 lead with six runs in the second, including a two-run homer by Derek Lee, but couldn't hold off Boston in the bottom half. Marco Scutaro, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis homered as Boston tied it with four runs and Baltimore never led again.
Boston also had three homers in an inning in Thursday's 10-4 series-opening win, with David Ortiz, Josh Reddick and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hitting solo shots in consecutive at-bats.
The series, marred by a bench-clearing fracas on Friday night after Ortiz was nearly hit by two pitches before popping out, had more tight pitches on Sunday. Baltimore's Mark Reynolds and Guerrero were plunked and departed with bruised hands, and Ortiz nearly was hit again.
All but one of the Orioles' eight hits came in a six-run second that gave them a 6-2 lead. The Red Sox tied it in the bottom half on Scutaro's fourth homer of the year, Pedroia's 11th and Youkilis' 13th, a two-run drive.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
