Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) – Chris Tillman’s 5 1/3 effective innings and a
two-run homer from Chris Davis got the Baltimore Orioles back in the win
column with a 4-1 decision over the Boston Red Sox.
Tillman (2-1) rebounded from a rough previous start to hold the Red Sox to one
run while striking out five, while Davis gave his team some needed breathing
room by capping Baltimore’s 13-hit day with a blast over the Green Monster in
the ninth inning.
Adam Jones continued his hot start to the season by going 3-for-5 with a run
scored for the Orioles. Davis finished with two hits and Caleb Joseph
delivered an RBI single to help Baltimore bounce back from a 3-2 loss in
Friday’s opener of this four-game wraparound set.
David Ortiz and Brock Holt each had three hits for Boston, but the Red Sox
were hurt by an 0-for-9 peformance with runners in scoring position.
Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz (1-2) battled through six innings, yielding 11
hits but just two runs and registering seven strikeouts.
Neither starting pitcher encountered a great deal of trouble through the
game’s first three innings, but Buchholz found himself in a major jam during
the fourth.
Jones opened the frame with a base hit and Jimmy Paredes followed with an
opposite-field double before Manny Machado’s groundout broke the scoreless
deadlock. Joseph then plated Paredes with a single, the first of three
straight Baltimore hits that loaded the bases with one out.
Buchholz would prevent further damage by striking out Alejandro De Aza and
Steve Pearce. He had to wiggle out of another tough spot when singles by
Davis, Jones and Paredes again filled the sacks with none out in the fifth.
The right-hander beared down to get Machado to ground into a double play in
which Davis was forced out at the plate, then later fanned Ryan Flaherty to
leave the bases loaded once more and keep it a 2-0 game.
Tillman stranded two Red Sox in the bottom of the fifth to remain unscored
upon, but Ortiz’s leadoff double an inning later turned into a run when the
Baltimore hurler bobbled Pablo Sandoval’s comeback after Ortiz advanced to
third on a grounder.
A single by Mike Napoli put two aboard and chased Tillman in favor of Brad
Brach, who induced a key double-play ball from Daniel Nava that protected the
2-1 lead.
Brach, Darren O’Day and Zach Britton kept Boston’s bats silent from there on,
and Davis provided some insurance by following a Pearce single with an
opposite-field homer off Robbie Ross in the top of the ninth.
Game Notes
Paredes went 2-for-5 in his first game off the disabled list. The utilityman
was activated prior to the game, with the Orioles placing second baseman
Jonathan Schoop on the 15-day DL due to a knee injury he sustained in Friday’s
opener … Tillman improved to 10-1 in 18 road starts dating back to the start
of last season … Jones is batting .533 (16-for-30) with four homers, nine
RBI and 10 runs scored over an eight-game hitting streak … The Orioles have
won in six of their last seven visits to Fenway Park.
