BOSTON — The Red Sox’s game against the Baltimore Orioles was going pretty well Tuesday, until it wasn’t.
Boston took a 4-2 lead into the sixth inning, but that was when starter Clay Buchholz lost control, giving up a two-run homer — his second of the night — and putting runners on second and third with no outs before ending his night on a bad note. The bullpen didn’t help much in the sixth and seventh innings, adding five more runs — one of them being Buchholz’s — to dig the Red Sox a deep hole to crawl out of.
It wasn’t a bad night at the plate for Boston, but it was too much to overcome, resulting in a 9-5 loss.
Here’s how it all went down.
GAME IN A WORD
Implosion.
As we said before, it really wasn’t a bad game through the first half. All it took was an atrocious inning from Buchholz to send the bullpen out early again, which obviously didn’t end well.
IT WAS OVER WHEN …
Robbie Ross Jr. gave up four runs in the seventh.
Only three of Ross’ runs were earned, but either way, it put the Red Sox too far behind.
ON THE BUMP
— Buchholz was looking better in his second start than he did in his first, but then, the sixth inning rolled around. The right-hander did give up a two-run homer to J.J. Hardy in the fourth, but otherwise, he had given up just two hits and had five strikeouts through five innings.
Buchholz imploded in the sixth, though, giving up another two-run shot to Mark Trumbo and putting runners on second and third with no outs before getting yanked. He finished the night with five earned runs on five hits with three walks, five strikeouts and two home runs over five innings.
— Noe Ramirez did the best he could with the situation he was dealt. The 26-year-old started his outing with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Hardy. From there, Ramirez got Jonathan Schoop to line out, intentionally walked Ryan Flaherty and struck out Joey Rickard.
Ramirez finished with one hit, one earned run, one intentional walk and one strikeout over one inning.
— Ross Jr. came on in the seventh after Ramirez gave up a single to Manny Machado, but he didn’t fare too well, either. He started off with a strikeout to Chris Davis, but a double and a single plated two runs. He then allowed another two-run homer to Hardy to put Boston in a 9-4 hole.
— Tommy Layne got his first call of the season, and delivered a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— It wasn’t Boston’s most commanding night at the plate, but the offense was spread around pretty evenly. Eight Red Sox hitters got at least one hit, and all nine reached base safely.
— Mookie Betts was right back in the swing of things, going 2-for-5 with two doubles, a run and an RBI.
— Dustin Pedroia went 1-for-5 and Xander Bogaerts went 1-for-4, with Pedroia adding a run to the mix.
— David Ortiz hit a two-run home run in the first inning, and added an RBI double in the eighth. Big Papi went 2-for-4 with a run and three RBIs.
— Hanley Ramirez has gotten on base in all seven of the Red Sox’s games. He went 1-for-4 Tuesday.
— Travis Shaw went 1-for-2 with a hit by pitch, and Brock Holt went 0-for-2 with a walk and a hit by pitch. Jackie Bradley Jr. went 1-for-4 with a run.
— Blake Swihart didn’t reach safely until the ninth inning, going 1-for-4 and leaving five men on base.
TWEET OF THE NIGHT
Ortiz seems to hit some sort of milestone every game.
David Ortiz is the first major leaguer age 40 or older with 3 HR within his first 7 games of a season since Hank Aaron in 1974.
— Jon Shestakofsky (@Shesta_HOF) April 12, 2016
UP NEXT
The Red Sox finish out their series against Baltimore on Wednesday, sending Joe Kelly to the mound to face Orioles right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
