Red Sox use longball to top Orioles, 8-7

After they scored just three runs with 12 left on base last night, tonight the Boston Red Sox used a four-homer barrage to beat the Orioles 8-7 in front of 22,123 at Camden Yards. Tampa Bay won its game with the Yankees, so now Boston and the Rays go to the final day tied for the wild card playoff berth with identical 90-71 records. The Orioles came up with two hits and a run in the ninth, on a Matt Wieters' swinging bunt, RBI ground out to close within 8-7. But Jonathan Papelbon got Adam Jones to ground out on a 3-2 pitch to end the game as the Orioles left the tie run on second base. Papelbon picked up his 31st save.

Orioles starter Zach Britton took the loss and gave up two of the homers. He allowed seven hits and five runs over 4 1/3 innings. He is now 11-11 with an ERA of 4.61. Britton gave up four runs or more in four of his last five starts, with an ERA of 6.49 in that stretch. Red Sox catcher Ryan Lavarnway hit a pair of homers, a three-run shot in the fourth and a solo shot in the eighth. Boston also got a two-run homer from Jacoby Ellsbury and two-run shot from Marco Scutaro. The Orioles scored on a Vladimir Guerrero RBI double, a Wieters two-run homer and a Jones solo homer. It was number 22 for Wieters and number 25 for Jones. Then, they scored twice in the eighth to cut the deficit to 8-6 on a Chris Davis RBI single and Nolan Reimold RBI triple. Former Oriole Erik Bedard started for Boston and gave up three runs over 3 1/3 innings. Alfredo Aceves got the win with 3 2/3 innings of one-run relief. The Orioles, who had won five of their last seven against Boston, fall to 14-13 in September and 68-93 on the year.