Final, Orioles 8-2: Following Friday's game, I wrote the Orioles were a thorn in the Red Sox' side just like the 2011 season. It continued once again on Saturday.
Baltimore wreaked havoc on Aaron Cook, whose ERA is 20.25 after his spot start in Josh Beckett's place. The Orioles feasted on him in the third inning, scoring seven runs in the frame.
The gap was just way too big for the Red Sox to dig themselves out of, and it puts them four games below a .500 record.
Mid 9th, Orioles 8-2: After 2 2/3 innings of work, Scott Atchison has lowered his ERA to 1.53 for the season, a strong mark.
Here's a recap of Aaron Cook's line — he pitched 2 2/3 innings while allowing eight hits and six earned runs with one walk and no strikeouts.
End 8th, Orioles 8-2: After lining out, David Ortiz exacted his frustration on his bat, breaking it in half over his head.
If you missed it, I suggest you find a replay online. Although the Red Sox are losing, he broke the bat effortlessly. He did it with some swag, actually.
Entering the game, he was hitting .371.
Mid 8th, Orioles 8-2: The way things are going here for the Red Sox, I'm surprised the crowd is energetic enough to sing Sweet Caroline.
I'm very interested to see what Bobby Valentine and Aaron Cook tell us about this one. Either Cook's sinker was off, or the collision — and gash — knocked him off his game.
I think the latter is possible.
End 7th, Orioles 8-2: Ryan Sweeney was just inches away from belting his first home run of the year. Instead, it was another double off the wall that drove in a run.
Cody Ross added on an RBI single, helping the offense start to get rolling. But it seemed Jason Hammel was simply running out of gas after unloading 113 pitches.
The two runs were charged to him, but he's still on track to possibly pick up another win.
Mid 7th, Orioles 8-0: Scott Atchison, who has a 1-0 record, has entered in for Clayton Mortensen.
He's continued to hold the fort, getting J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis to ground out while getting Jones to fly out.
The slider was working for him in that inning.
End 6th, Orioles 8-0: Scary scene just now.
As Nick Punto struck out swinging, he lost the grasp of his bat and it flew into the stands apparently hitting the head of a young child.
The child and the parents left with security guard to get some medical attention. Hopefully, the child is OK.
Mid 6th, Orioles 8-0: The Red Sox don't have much going for them right now. They're 1-8 in their last nine home games.
But Clayton Mortensen has done well since giving up a homer. He's struck out five batters and has only allowed one hit.
End 5th, Orioles 8-0: Jason Hammel still hasn't allowed a hit since the first inning, when he allowed two.
In that inning, he looked like Aaron Cook with the way he was getting groundouts at a rapid pace.
Mid 5th, Orioles 8-0: Just when it couldn't get worse, it did with a terrible miscue between Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Nick Punto on a foul ball.
Both of them were rushing toward the ball and Saltalamacchia ultimately let it plop down right in between them. The Orioles didn't make them pay for it, but it was some ugly fielding on that sequence.
End 4th, Orioles 8-0: Hammel is a strikeout matching right now, having racked up seven punchouts through four frames.
Mike Aviles has cooled off a little as of late, this time grounding into a double play. I'm not sure if Valentine was trying to switch things around temporarily, but he seemed fine at leadoff.
Mid 4th, Orioles 8-0: Some sarcastic cheers from the fans at Fenway Park as Clayton Mortensen tosses a scoreless inning.
Although he allowed the homer to Reynolds, it's worth being fair to Mortensen, who has thrown into the fire pretty abruptly after Cook fizzled in his start.
End 3rd, Orioles 8-0: Hammel continues to dominate, retiring Marlon Byrd, Nick Punto and Dustin Pedroia with ease.
He's only allowed two hits. Hammel, by the way, is a former teammate of Aaron Cook's from their Colorado days.
Mid 3rd, Orioles 8-0: This got away from the Red Sox pretty quick with Mark Reynolds unloading another blast against Clayton Mortensen.
Pitching, pitching, pitching woes. It's been an issue for the Red Sox so far this season.
2:05 p.m.: Since suffering a gash in his leg, Aaron Cook wasn't quite the same when he returned.
He couldn't get the ball down in the zone and surrendered a two-run bomb to Adam Jones. Wilson Betemit and Nick Markakis tagged him for some RBIs too.
He allowed four runs in the third inning and left two men on base, which Clayton Mortensen will inherit.
End 2nd, Orioles 1-0: Jason Hammel continues to carry this pitching staff right now.
He's been tossing some good stuff, striking out Ryan Sweeney, Cody Ross and Jarrod Saltalamacchia in straight at-bats.
The fastball has been working for him so far.
Mid 2nd, Orioles 1-0: Man, just when Aaron Cook talked about how happy he was to have his injuries behind him, he suffers one.
He attempted to cover home after a passed ball and got spiked. He looked like he was going to be yanked for Clayton Mortensen because he was shaken up. But now,he's back.
Weird sequence that I haven't seen before. Guess the umpires gave him an extra minute or two to get it checked out.
End 1st, 0-0: Jason Hammel looked pretty strong in that one, striking out Nick Punto and David Ortiz.
Although he surrendered base hits to Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez, he kept his cool and got Mike Aviles to ground out.
Still, trying to figure out what I think about Aviles hitting fifth. An interesting look.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Aaron Cook did what he normally does — throw the sinker and throw it well.
He tossed nine pitches, all of them sinkers, and induced three groundouts to shortstop Mike Aviles, who got a lot of action in that one.
That's the beauty of the sinker.
11:45 p.m.: Will Middlebrooks was a late scratch with left hamstring tightness, but said he feels fine and should be back on Sunday.
Here are the lineups.
Red Sox
Nick Punto 3B,
Dustin Pedroia 2B,
David Ortiz DH,
Adrian Gonzalez 1B,
Mike Aviles SS,
Ryan Sweeney RF,
Cody Ross LF,
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C,
Marlon Byrd CF,
Aaron Cook P
Orioles
Endy Chavez, LF
J.J. Hardy, SS
Nick Markakis, RF
Adam Jones, CF
Matt Wieters, C
Chris Davis, 1B
Wilson Betemit, DH
Mark Reynolds, 3B
Robert Andino, 2B
Jason Hammel, P
8 a.m. ET: Aaron Cook will finally make his well-awaited Red Sox (11-14) debut. After spending the past month in Triple-A Pawtucket, Cook was recalled Friday and will start against the Orioles (17-9) and in place for Josh Beckett, who is dealing with soreness in his lat.
In 10 seasons with the Rockies, Cook went 72-68 with a 4.53 ERA and 558 strikeouts. He'll go up against Orioles pitcher Jason Hammel, who is 3-1 with a 1.97 ERA this season. Hammel has gone at least five innings and allowed two earned runs or fewer in every game this season.
For more details and analysis from Fenway, follow NESN.com's live blog. Be sure to tune into NESN's pregame show at 12:30 p.m. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.
