Ellsbury Goes Deep Twice, Sox Beat O's 4-0
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Jacoby Ellsbury hit two solo homers, Andrew Miller and three relievers combined on a two-hitter, and the Boston Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles 4-0 Wednesday.
Adrian Gonzalez had four hits for the Red Sox, who took two of three from Baltimore to conclude their sixth consecutive winning road trip. Boston also went 2-1 at Tampa Bay.
Ellsbury's homers put the Red Sox up 1-0 in the third inning and 3-0 in the seventh. Both drives came off Jake Arrieta (9-7), who has yielded a team-high 19 long balls in 20 starts.
Ellsbury's only other two-homer game was on April 22, 2008, against the Los Angeles Angels.
Miller (4-1) allowed two hits over 5 2-3 innings in a wild but effective performance. The 6-foot-7 lefty issued a career-high six walks and had only one perfect inning.
Still, Miller took a no-hitter into the fifth. Facing Craig Tatum with one out, he threw a pitch that floated three feet wide of the plate and rolled to the backstop. Two pitches later, Tatum grounded a single up the middle.
In the sixth, Derrek Lee singled with two outs and Mark Reynolds walked to chase Miller. Former Oriole Matt Albers came in and retired Nolan Reimold on a grounder to maintain Boston's two-run lead.
Albers also worked a perfect seventh, Daniel Bard had a 1-2-3 eighth -- his club-record 21st consecutive scoreless outing -- and Jonathan Papelbon got the final three outs.
Boston's Dustin Pedroia beat out a slow roller to third base in the fifth inning to extend his hitting streak to 18 games, a career-high. He has reached base in 30 straight games, also a career high.
Pedroia's lone hit Tuesday night came in identical fashion.
Arrieta allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings, matching his longest outing of the season. He's 0-3 in his last four starts.
Miller gave up three straight one-out walks in the second inning to load the bases for Tatum, who bounced into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.
After Ellsbury connected in the third, Boston made it 2-0 in the fourth when Josh Reddick singled, took third on a double by Carl Crawford and scored on a groundout by Jason Varitek.
Boston's final run came in the eighth when Mark Hendrickson walked Crawford with the bases loaded.
Notes: Temperature at game time was 95 degrees. ... Red Sox DH David Ortiz and Orioles closer Kevin Gregg completed their three-game suspension for their part in a bench-clearing melee in Boston on July 8. ... Ellsbury has seven career homers against Baltimore, five at Camden Yards. He has seven homers in July, a career high for one month. ... After allowing three runs without getting an out against Boston on Monday, Mark Worrell inherited a bases-loaded jam from Hendrickson and struck out Marco Scutaro and Varitek before retiring Yamaico Navarro on a fly ball.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
