BALTIMORE (AP) — A wild, back-and-forth slugfest turned on a rare error by Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia, and the Baltimore Orioles overcame five Red Sox home runs in a 13-9 victory Wednesday night.
Matt Wieters had three RBIs for the Orioles, who reached a season high in runs without benefit of a homer. Hyun Soo Kim and Pedro Alvarez each had three hits, and Chris Davis drew four walks to help Baltimore secure its third win in 10 games.
Xander Bogaerts extended his hitting streak to 25 games — second-longest in the majors this season — and Mookie Betts added two homers to go with the three he clocked on Tuesday night. After connecting in the first and second innings of this game, Boston’s leadoff hitter had five home runs in seven at-bats.
Chris Young also homered twice for the Red Sox, and David Ortiz had a solo shot to move into a tie with Jim Rice for third place on the team’s RBI list with 1,451.
Pedroia’s miscue came in the sixth inning with the score tied at 8. After Clay Buchholz (3-6) walked Davis and Mark Trumbo, Wieters hit a potential double-play grounder to Pedroia. The ball skidded through his legs, and Davis scored to give Baltimore the lead for good.
Pedroia — a four-time Gold Glove winner — had two errors in 50 games this season.
The Orioles added another run in that inning and pulled away with a three-run seventh.
Brad Brach (5-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for Baltimore, which pulled within two games of first-place Boston in the AL East.
Zach Britton got four outs for his 15th save.
The first three innings featured 15 runs, 17 hits and two starting pitchers fortunate to emerge from the mess with a no-decision.
Baltimore offset Betts’ second leadoff homer in two games with a four-run first against Joe Kelly, who quickly realized that earning his 11th straight win was not going to be easy.
Home runs by Young and Betts tied it in the top of the second. The Orioles went up 5-4 in the bottom half, and each team scored three runs in the third.
Kelly gave up seven runs in 2 1/3 innings. Although he’s unbeaten since last July, he owns an unsightly 8.46 ERA this season.
Baltimore starter Mike Wright yielded a career-high four home runs before being pulled with two outs in the third.
ROSTER MOVE
The Orioles recalled left-hander T.J. McFarland from Triple-A Norfolk and optioned rookie reliever Ashur Tolliver to the same club. Tolliver retired Betts on Tuesday when he needed a home run to tie the big league record of four in a game. On Wednesday, Tolliver said, “You never think, ‘I can’t give up a home run.’ You just want to make sure you’re locating a quality pitch.”
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