But for the fifth straight regular season game –– dating back to September 2011 –– Baltimore and Boston were locked in a slugfest. It took 13 innings to settle the duel in Saturday's 6-4 loss, as Chris Davis collected the game-winning RBI in the 13th.
All in all, it reiterated the notion that nothing comes easy against the Orioles. Last season, Baltimore backed the theory, taking five of the last seven games to propel the Red Sox' September swoon.
Eight months later, the Orioles are still stifling the Red Sox. Each time Boston captured a lead in the 13 innings, Baltimore answered by chipping away at the deficit one run at a time.
Although Cody Ross wasn't on last year's club, he couldn't describe the team's woes against the Orioles, let alone the 1-3 record on the home stand.
"We're creating stuff, making stuff happen," Ross said. "We're just falling short. With that being said, we scored some runs tonight, scored early and got that one run early, came back scored a couple and scored another one. We had the lead quite a bit [on Friday], it's tough."
The ghost of Robert Andino –– who surprisingly wasn't booed by the Fenway fans –– didn't haunt Boston. No, this time around, the Orioles' relievers flummoxed the Red Sox after starter Wei-Yin Chen exited after five innings.
By tossing eight scoreless innings, Baltimore's bullpen extended the group's consecutive scoreless innings streak to 18 2/3 frames. The Orioles' bullpen has only surrendered three hits and two walks and boasts a 1.56 ERA.
For the second straight series, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine could only tip his cap to the opposing team's staff.
"There's been pretty good pitchers who have pitched against, and they've held us down a little," Valentine said. "We're playing a good game. We're playing the same baseball. It's not like we're playing any different baseball. We're not getting those big hits because we're not getting any pitches to do it with."
Meanwhile, Boston's six relievers combined to yield three runs on five hits over seven innings. The effort was reminiscent of last year's tussles against the Orioles, who remain a thorn on the Red Sox' side.
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