Coby Mayo and Pete Alonso homered in back-to-back innings, providing all the offense that the visiting Baltimore Orioles needed to support starter Shane Baz in a 4-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.
Alonso (2-for-4) hit a two-run homer in the third for the Orioles, who scored all of their runs in three straight frames (second through fourth) en route to their eighth win in an 11-game span.
Baz (3-5) struck out six across seven innings of two-run, four-hit ball.
Rico Garcia fanned two of the three batters he faced to record his fourth save.
Ceddanne Rafaela went 2-for-4 for the Red Sox.
The Red Sox quickly rewarded starter Connelly Early (5-3) for working out of a two-on, no-out jam to start the game, as Jarren Duran shot a leadoff triple past sliding left fielder Taylor Ward and into the corner before scoring on Wilyer Abreu’s sacrifice fly two batters later for a 1-0 Red Sox lead in the first.
However, the lead did not last long. Baltimore’s second frame began with Mayo just clearing the Green Monster in left field for a game-tying solo homer.
The visitors flipped the score on Alonso’s line-drive, two-run shot in the third. Adley Rutschman set the table with a one-out single up the middle.
Baltimore scored another run in the fourth to continue to pad its lead. After Tyler O’Neill knocked a leadoff single and stole second, Leody Taveras’ sacrifice bunt pushed him up to third. Blaze Alexander’s sac fly to right made it a 4-1 game.
In the fifth, Mickey Gasper lined a leadoff single to right before scoring on Marcelo Mayer’s sac fly to pull the Red Sox within 4-2.
Baz escaped the fifth without any further damage, stranding Caleb Durbin on second following a two-out double. He then struck out two in the sixth and induced an around-the-horn double play to face the minimum in the seventh.
Early retired the final seven batters he faced, making way for Greg Weissert (1 2/3 innings) with one out in the sixth. However, the Red Sox did not put a runner in scoring position against Baz, Andrew Kittredge and Garcia after the fifth.
Early allowed four runs on six hits, striking out six, in 5 1/3. He suffered his first loss since May 2.
–Field Level Media
