Jarren Duran slugged a three-run home run in the fifth inning to snap a personal power drought and lift the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 victory against the host Baltimore Orioles on Monday night in the opener of a four-game series.
Roman Anthony also homered for the Red Sox, who have won four of their last five games.
Connor Wong and Masataka Yoshida joined Anthony with two hits apiece.
Colton Cowser had three hits — half of the Orioles’ total — and drove in all three Baltimore runs, but he didn’t come through in a critical late-game situation.
Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano (10-6) was clipped for four runs on six hits in six innings. It marked his first loss in an eight-outing stretch.
The Red Sox trailed 3-1 when Duran belted his 13th home run of the season, ending a 17-game stretch without a long ball. It was his second homer in August.
Aroldis Chapman worked a perfect ninth for his 25th save as the fifth Boston pitcher in the game.
Richard Fitts (2-4) was the winning pitcher despite giving up all three runs to the Orioles.
Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson began the bottom of the eighth with a double off Garrett Whitlock, who then struck out Ryan Mountcastle, Coby Mayo and Cowser.
Anthony led off the game with his sixth homer of the season, tagging the fifth pitch from Sugano. The Baltimore starter hadn’t allowed a home run in any of his previous four games.
Cowser homered in the second inning and rapped a two-run single in the third to put the Orioles ahead 3-1.
The Red Sox used an opener for the second time this season. Brennan Bernardino worked a scoreless first inning before Fitts logged four innings while yielding two hits and three walks and striking out six.
Baltimore, which has lost four of its last five games, had half of its hits go for extra bases. They were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, while Boston was 1-for-7.
–Field Level Media
