The Baltimore Orioles finally lost after opening the season with a team-record seven straight wins, beaten by the bats of Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and the Boston Red Sox 4-2 Wednesday night.
The Orioles were the last undefeated team in the majors, ending their longest winning streak to start a season since moving to Baltimore in 1954. The franchise opened 9-0 in 1944 as the St. Louis Browns.
The Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak. Bogaerts hit a two-run double and Bradley had a tiebreaking triple.
Chris Davis hit a two-run homer for the Orioles.
Joe Kelly (1-0) labored through five innings, giving up two runs on seven hits with five walks and six strikeouts. Craig Kimbrel, the fifth Boston reliever, struck out all three batters he faced for his second save. He took the loss in the first game of the series, giving up a three-run homer to Davis.
Ubaldo Jimenez (1-1) gave up four runs on six hits and four walks in five innings.
The Red Sox gave up nine runs to Baltimore in each of the first two games of the series. They took the lead for good in this time in the fourth when Bradley hit an RBI triple off the base of the right-field fence and scored on Mookie Betts’ groundout that ricocheted off Jimenez’s glove over to second baseman Jonathan Schoop.
Trailing 2-0 in the third, Boston tied it on Bogaerts’ two-run double that got past diving third baseman Manny Machado and went into the left-field corner.
Davis hit his fourth homer, sending a drive into the first row of Green Monster seats in the third.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: CF Adam Jones didn’t start for the sixth straight game because of ribcage soreness. Manager Buck Showalter said he hopes to get him in the lineup Thursday.
Red Sox: Benched 3B Pablo Sandoval was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained left shoulder . LHP Eduardo Rodriguez, on the DL since early April with an injured right knee, threw 50 pitches at the club’s spring training complex in Fort Myers, Florida. Manager John Farrell said "he got through it very good." RHP Carson Smith, on the DL with a strained flexor muscle, also threw in Fort Myers.
UP NEXT
Orioles: RHP Chris Tillman (1-0, 1.29 ERA) is set to face LHP Cole Hamels (2-0, 2.08) when Baltimore opens a four-game series at Texas on Thursday.
Red Sox: After an off day Thursday, Rick Porcello (1-0, 6.00) is slated to face the Blue Jays and RHP R.A. Dickey (1-1, 8.10) in the opener of a four-game series in Fenway Park. Porcello got the win in Toronto on Saturday, giving up four runs in six innings.
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