BOSTON — The Red Sox seemed well on their way to a third straight win leading 5-3 going into the ninth, but then the Orioles scored five times off of closer Joel Hanrahan and ultimately came away with an 8-5 win. It was Hanrahan’s first blown save as a member of the Red Sox.
Hanrahan allowed a lead off home run to Chris Davis cutting the deficit to one, 5-4. He then retired the next two hitters before walking the bases loaded. A wild pitch tied the game before Manny Machado hit a three-run home run into the Monster seats.
“To start out with a home run there, that is not how you want to start,” Hanrahan said. “A couple outs after that and then I was all over the place. Walked a couple of guys and then threw that wild pitch, then the homer. You get those two outs and then you have to put guys away.”
Daniel Nava and Jarrod Saltamachhia homered back-to-back in the sixth inning with two outs following a 43-minute rain delay, giving the Sox a 5-3 lead at the time.
It was Nava’s third home run in as many games and he has now reached base in five of his six plate appearances at Fenway Park this season. The game also marked the end of the Fenway Park sell-out streak, dating back to May 15, 2003 spanning 794 regular season games.
Saltalamacchia paced the offense going 3-for-4 with two doubles and the home run finishing with two RBI’s. Besides Nava and Saltalamacchia, Jacoby Ellsbury (RBI) was the only player to hit safely.
Although it wasn’t spectacular, Ryan Dempster gave the Red Sox another solid outing. The right-hander went five innings, allowing three runs (one earned), on three hits while striking out seven. Like in his first game, Dempster did struggle with his command, finishing with 93 pitches. He threw 101 pitches in his five inning outing last Wednesday against the Yankees.
Koji Uehara, Junichi Tazawa, Andrew Bailey pitching three hitless innings of relief before the blown save in the ninth.
The two teams will close out their three-game set Thursday night (7:10, NESN). Alfredo Aceves (0-0) will make his first start of the season, while Baltimore will counter with Chris Tillman (0-0).
What they will be saying:Although manager John Farrell said after the game Hanrahan is “obviously the teams closer,” there is still some concern with the right-hander. He allowed a home run in Monday’s win and then allowed the five runs tonight. Set up man Andrew Bailey, who was a closer before coming to Boston, has pitched very well so far this season, so bringing up possibly moving Bailey to the closer’s role is not out of the question … Saltalamacchia’s day at the plate was encouraging as he came into the game 0-for-his-last-12 and hitting just .188 … This is the first tough defeat of the season and will certainly test the teams ability to bounce back from a hard loss, but if the chemistry and camaraderie displayed so far this season is any indication the team will be fine moving forward.
