The Boston Red Sox are on pace to score a ton of runs this season, and Friday night’s 7-5 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards was a good example of why.
After being held scoreless through four innings, the Sox’s offense woke up in the fifth inning, starting with a three-run homer from David Ortiz.
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Hanley Ramirez chimed in with a solo shot in the next at-bat. Ramirez has been as good as advertised offensively since signing with the Sox as a free agent in November. He leads the team with six home runs and 13 RBI.
The top part of the Red Sox’s lineup was particularly impressive against the Orioles. Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia, Ortiz and Ramirez combined for seven hits, four RBIs and four runs scored. Boston collected 11 hits overall, with Betts, Ortiz, Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval and Brock Holt each tallying two.
After Friday’s win, the Red Sox are tied for third in runs scored (84), sixth in home runs (18), seventh in hits (141) and fifth in stolen bases (12) among the 16 American League clubs. The Sox have scored 27 more runs through 17 games than they did last season.
— The Red Sox finally were caught stealing when Pedroia was thrown out at second base to end the seventh inning. The play was reviewed, and the ruling was upheld. Boston had been 12-for-12 on stolen base attempts.
— Brock Holt hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning, which helped seal the victory for Boston. It was Holt’s first homer of the season.
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— Junichi Tazawa pitched the eighth inning for Boston and gave up his first run of the season when Chris Davis hit a solo homer to right field. He had gone 8 2/3 scoreless innings to begin the campaign.
— Red Sox closer Koji Uehara picked up his third save of the season with two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth inning. Uehara ran into a bit of trouble when two singles put men on first and third with one out, but he closed out the inning by getting Manny Machado to pop out and striking out Jimmy Paredes.
— Machado was unable to come through in the clutch for Baltimore. In addition to his pop out in the ninth inning, the Orioles third baseman also struck out with the bases loaded in the seventh inning.
— Baltimore’s five-game losing streak is its longest skid since dropping six in a row in September 2013.
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— Here are some injury updates, per Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston.
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Thumbnail photo via Andy Marlin/USA TODAY Sports Images
