It was a series that began amid a lot of hope for the Orioles. They were coming home for the first time this season off a thrilling, 11-inning win Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
They were facing a Boston team they swept three straight last weekend, winning 11-3 in the final game.
But the results this time were very, very different.
The Red Sox have not lost since the Orioles left Fenway Park. They scored four in the third inning and five in the fifth today to build a midgame 10-1 lead, and they held off the Orioles 14-9 at Oriole Park. They swept this series by a combined 27-16 score after winning on Thursday and Saturday.
J.D. Martinez, back in the lineup today, hit three solo homers. He went 4-for-6 with four runs and four RBIs. He's now batting .472 with an OPS of 1.583. Against O's pitching in 2021, he is 12-for-23 with four doubles, four homers and eight RBIs. This was his third career three-homer game.
The O's were down by nine runs, but got a three-run homer in the fifth by Maikel Franco and a three-run shot in the sixth by Trey Mancini to get closer. Mancini had a four-RBI day.
But the Red Sox then blasted two more homers in the eighth - their fifth and sixth of today. Last weekend, five runs for Boston. Today, six home runs. They homered nine times in the series.
Boston, in sole possession of first place in the American League East for the first time since 2018, has won six in a row. That is the longest win streak currently in the league. Their run differential is a plus-28 during the win streak.
Last weekend O's pitching allowed five runs and 15 hits in three games at Boston, logging a 1.67 ERA. This weekend the Red Sox scored 27 runs and had 39 hits.
O's starter Jorge López again had a start that began well but didn't end that way. Again, his stuff looked solid, and so did his command to start the game. Today it was 0-0 through the second inning and he had thrown 30 pitches. But the second time through the lineup, Boston teed off.
Over the third and fifth innings, Boston's top three in the order - Enrique Hernández, Alex Verdugo and Martinez - went 6-for-6 against him with two homers, six runs and five RBIs.
For the day, he went four innings plus three batters and gave up eight hits and seven runs. He walked one, fanned four and allowed two home runs. Boston went 8-for-19 against him and his ERA is at 11.42 through two starts.
López could be pitching his way out of the rotation already. Two starts seems too quick to make a move, but he's really struggling and can't seem to handle a lineup once it turns over.
The Orioles fall to 4-5 overall, 0-3 at home, 3-2 in day games and 1-5 when their opponent scores first.
They will open a four-game series at home Monday night versus Seattle when right-hander Dean Kremer (0-1, 9.00 ERA) faces Seattle lefty Justus Sheffield (0-1, 7.20 ERA) at 7:05 p.m.