The Red Sox had lost two straight to the O’s, so they were gonna need a strong start from David Price to have any chance to even split the series this weekend. Price did just that as he pitched 7 strong innings and only gave up one run. There was a little drama in the final couple of innings, but Kimbrel was still able to lock down the win and get his 16th save of the season.
The game stayed scoreless until the top of the 4th when Hanley Ramirez hit a 2 run homer off of O’s starter Dylan Bundy. Sox 2-0. Price kept the score right there for a while and didn’t end up giving up his first run until the bottom of the 7th when he gave up a solo home run to Manny Machado. Sox 2-1. Machado had been slumping at the plate lately, but he never seems to slump against the Sox. The Sox bats scored two runs in the top of the 8th to push the lead to 3 runs. Bogaerts hit an RBI groundout and then Ramirez hit an RBI double. Sox 4-1.
Price came back out for the 8th inning. He got Schoop to strike out, but a passed ball by Vazquez allowed him to reach. Farrell went out to get Price in favor of Joe Kelly. Kelly quickly got a double play to have two outs in the inning. However then Kelly allowed back to back singles to force Farrell to bring in closer Craig Kimbrel in the 8th. Kimbrel struck out Jones to get the third out to end the 8th. The Sox scored an additional run in the top of the 9th when Betts hit an RBI single. Sox 5-1. Kimbrel came back out for the 9th looking for his 16th save of the season. Kimbrel had one of his most stressed innings all season. Kimbrel ended up throwing a lot of pitches and also giving up an RBI double to Mancini, but then with two outs he struck out Smith to end the game with the save and the win. Phew. Price showed that he still does have ace stuff and the Sox got their first win of the series.
Red Sox 5 Orioles 2 BOXSCORE
WP: Price (1-0) LP: Bundy (6-4) SV: Kimbrel (16)
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