A Matt Moore grand slam capped off a seven run inning for the Baltimore Orioles who beat the Boston Red Sox 11-5.
Nick Markakis and Tike Redman homered for the Orioles and David Ortiz had two doubles while hitting his 28th homerun of the season, but Matsuzaka had a rough day pitching for Boston.
Matsuzaka (14-12) pitched for 2 2/3 innings, on six hits, eight runs, walked three and struck out two on 74 pitches in the outing. In his last eight games (including this one) Matsuzaka has let up 31 runs, in 40 1/3 innings pitched 2-4 for Boston.
Baltimore, with the win, snapped a 11-game home losing streak and Jon Leicester (1-1) earned his first win of the season pitching for 5 innings, on seven hits, four runs, one walk and two strikeouts throwing 81 pitches in the outing.
Boston had the lead once in the first inning as Dustin Pedroia singled to left field and Ortiz followed with a homer to center field giving the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
Redman homered in the bottom half of the inning to cut the lead to one run, but RBI’s by Julio Lugo and Jacoby Ellsbury gave Boston a 4-1 lead in the top of the second.
Matsuzaka entered the third inning with a three run lead, but gave it all up as he walked in a run with the bases loaded. Miguel Tejada drove home Brian Roberts on an RBI single, Kevin Millar walked with the bases loaded, and after Matsuzaka got the next two outs Scott Moore chased him out of the game with a grand slam homerun to the center field seats resulting in a seven running inning for the O’s.
It was the worst outing for Matsuzaka in his major league career only pitching for 2 2/3 and the Orioles had their biggest offensive inning of the season off the Red Sox starter.
Baltimore added three more runs in the fourth on a throwing error and Markakis’ 17th homerun of the season, a two-run shot adding to their lead at 11-4.
Lugo doubled home an RBI in the ninth inning finishing the day with two RBI’s, two doubles, and a run out of the nine hole in the lineup.
With the loss and the New York Yankees clobbering of the Kansas City Royals 11-5 the A.L. East division lead is at 5.5 games.
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