While most of the country was buzzing about the Republican nominee debate, there was no debate at Camden Yards on Wednesday night – the Red Sox thoroughly dominated the Orioles from start to finish. Coming off a tough extra inning loss on Tuesday, the Red Sox bounced back in a big way to salvage the final game of the series in Baltimore.
After a relatively quiet first inning for both squads, David Ortiz led off the second inning with his 501st career homerun off of starter Mike Wright to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. The damage was just starting for Wright though. Jackie Bradley Jr. led off the third with a walk. After Deven Marrero grounded out and moved Bradley to second, Brock Holt drove him in with a single. Pablo Sandoval then lined out bringing up Dustin Pedroia who promptly hit a two-run blast to left center to give the Red Sox a 4-0 lead.
Wright would again come out for the fourth, however after Rusney Castillo led off with a single and Blake Swihart clocked a double to deep right field, Wright’s night would be over. Righty Jorge Rondon would come on in relief but couldn’t stop the bleeding. Rondon did strike out Bradley, who has cooled off and found himself in a rut as of late, but a Marrero RBI single would get the Sox back on the attack. Brock Holt followed with an RBI single of his own. Pedroia would then make his presence felt again rocking a three-run homer this time around – two homeruns in back-to-back innings.
Pedroia’s second homerun would give the Red Sox a 9-0 lead after the fourth, and that would be all they really needed to get by the Orioles. Wright’s final line of the night: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 2 HR. The Sox bats then quieted down for the much of the remainder of the night until Allen Craig (yes, he is still on the team) hit an RBI double in the eighth to give Boston a 10-0 lead.
As far as the other side goes for Boston, Henry Owens was in full command the whole night. Leadoff hitter and DH Nolan Reimold would strike out to kick things off, and Owens would never look back. He didn’t give up a hit until the third and never let any one inning get out of control. In the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, the Orioles led off with singles that they were never able to capitalize on. Owens looked composed and consistent, and earned a big victory on Wednesday night. He finished the night with 113 total pitches in 7.2 innings and allowing just six scattered hits, no runs, no walks and four strikeouts.
Baltimore was able to get on the board late in the ninth inning with a run off Sox relieve Ryan Cook, but they thoroughly dominated all night long. The Sox rolled to a 10-1 final and will look to carry that momentum to Toronto on Friday night. Rick Porcello will be looking for his third victory in a row when he takes the mound against Jays righty Marcus Stroman (1-0, 5.40). It will be 7:07pm start at Rogers Centre.
GAME NOTES:
*Holt, Pedroia, and David Ortiz all had two hits on the night. Holt had a huge night going 2-5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.
*With Xander Bogaerts (and Mookie Betts) getting the night off, Deven Marrero had a monster game. He went 3-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. You have to wonder if the Sox will be looking to shop Marrero around in the offseason.
*After the Red Sox chased Mike Wright from the game in the fourth, the Orioles were forced to use five different relievers who were able to get the job done for the most part. The lead was far too large at that point however. Manager Buck Showalter also made seven positional substitutions to start the eighth inning.
*According to Gordon Edes, Allen Craig’s double was his first for the big club in exactly one year.
GRADES:
Henry Owens pitched a gem. He never really allowed himself to get into a jam and was able to control the flow of the game all night long. While he looked like he was struggling with runners on base earlier this year, especially the lead-off batter in an inning, he has totally improved on that front. The leadoff man was on frequently Wednesday night, but it didn’t faze Owens. One of the most important facets of the game for Owens that cannot be overlooked was his not allowing a single walk in the game. He has now put two very solid starts together and is looking like a very important piece of the rotation in 2016.
Pedey is back and made his presence felt – BIG TIME – on Wednesday night. He went 2-4 with two huge homeruns and five RBI, also adding two runs scored. It was nice to see an impact like that from Pedroia after it seems like fans had forgotten what they were missing while he was on the DL. The one-two punch of Pedroia in the third spot of the lineup followed by Ortiz hitting cleanup is a force to be reckoned with.
The Red Sox only used two relievers on the night, and one of them was
Roman Mendezwho gave up a hit and recorded an out. Cook pitched the ninth and gave up a hit, a walk and the only Orioles run of the night. Granted, it wasn’t a very pressure-filled appearance for Cook, but it would have been nice to get out of the inning unscathed and get a shut-out victory.
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