Wednesday was another eventful night at Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles.
Two Orioles — center fielder Adam Jones and right-handed starter Kevin Gausman — were ejected, and both teams also had two errors. The Red Sox used the sloppy defense to their advantage in a three-run fourth inning, which helped Boston top Baltimore 4-2.
The Red Sox improved to 15-12 with the win, while the Orioles dropped to 16-10 with the loss.
Here’s how it all went down.
GAME IN A WORD
Ejections.
After no one was ejected Tuesday night as the ongoing feud between the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles hit a new level, Jones and Gausman both were tossed.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Closer Craig Kimbrel toed the rubber in the top of the ninth inning. The Orioles only were down two runs, but Kimbrel struck out the side to close out the Red Sox’s win.
ON THE BUMP
— Red Sox left-hander Drew Pomeranz ran into some early trouble in the first inning.
Joey Rickard opened the frame with a bloop double, and Adam Jones then reached via a Marco Hernandez error on a ground ball to third base. Hernandez suffered a left shoulder strain during the play and was replaced by Josh Rutledge. The Orioles later loaded the bases on a Chris Davis walk, but Pomeranz struck out Jonathan Schoop to end the threat.
Pomeranz responded with two straight 1-2-3 innings, but he ran into some trouble in the top of the fourth inning. The Orioles had runners on second and third with two outs, but the left-hander struck out J.J. Hardy to end the frame.
He didn’t allow a run in the fifth inning either, but the story of that frame was Jones being ejected for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Sam Holbrook.
Then the sixth inning happened. Pomeranz got one out but allowed runners to get to second and third before being lifted for Heath Hembree.
— Hembree had a rough relief appearance, as he gave up a sacrifice fly to Trey Mancini and an RBI single to Hardy to trim the Red Sox’s lead. Both runs were charged to Pomeranz, who officially went 5 1/3 innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out seven. Hembree eventually got out of trouble, though, and didn’t allow another run in the frame.
— Matt Barnes took over and pitched a 1-2-3 top of the seventh inning.
He then started the eighth inning with two straight outs, but the next two batters reached base, prompting Red Sox manager John Farrell to put in Robby Scott.
— Robby Scott retired the only batter he faced.
— Kimbrel struck out the side in the top of the ninth to earn the save.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— As you might have heard, there’s an ongoing dispute between the Red Sox and Orioles, which dates back to Manny Machado’s hard slide that injured Dustin Pedroia on April 21.
Things heated up again Tuesday night when Chris Sale threw behind Machado, who had some choice words for Boston afterward. Warnings weren’t assessed prior to Wednesday’s game, but Gausman still was ejected for hitting Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts with a 76.6 mph curveball in the bottom of the second inning.
Bogaerts later came around to score the first run of the game on Rutledge’s RBI single to left field.
— The Red Sox struck again in the bottom of the fourth inning. Bogaerts reached on a Hardy error to lead off the frame, and he came around to score two batters later on a Chris Young RBI double. Mitch Moreland then scored on the next play thanks to another Baltimore fielding miscue, and Young scored the Sox’s fourth run on a Pedroia sacrifice fly.
— Pedroia, Bogaerts, Moreland, Young, Rutledge and Mookie Betts all recorded one hit for the Sox. Betts, Moreland, Young (two) and Hanley Ramirez also all reached on walks.
— Ramirez’s eight-game hitting streak came to an end as he went 0-for-3 with a walk.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Christopher McDonald, aka Shooter McGavin, was at Fenway Park for Wednesday’s game.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Orioles will close out their four-game series with a matchup Thursday night at Fenway Park. Kyle Kendrick will toe the rubber for Boston, and Ubaldo Jimenez was supposed to start for Baltimore, but he pitched three innings in relief Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
