Ramírez gets first major league win as O's defeat Red Sox 7-6

Yefry Ramírez picked the night that the Orioles were finalizing a Zach Britton trade to earn his first major league win.

He may be overshadowed, but it's still a nice achievement. Give the young man a hand and maybe a shaving cream pie.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter can't promise Ramírez a set number of starts through the remainder of the season. He won't base his decisions on a start-to-start basis. The leash won't be advertised as especially long or short.

Ramírez will take the ball when it's given to him and try to record outs and make an impression.

Back-to-back home runs by Blake Swihart and Mookie Betts with two outs in the top of the fifth inning threatened to stick Ramírez with his fourth loss of the season, but Tim Beckham delivered a two-run shot in the bottom half, the lead was expanded and the bullpen held on for a 7-6 victory over the Red Sox before an announced crowd of 13,342 at Camden Yards.

Jonathan Schoop hit a two-run homer off Drew Pomeranz in the third to give the Orioles a 2-1 lead, and his RBI single off Joe Kelly in the sixth increased it to 6-3. Beckham hit his two-run homer in the fifth and had a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the sixth. Adam Jones contributed an RBI single off Hector Velázquez in the three-run sixth.

The Orioles won their first game since the break and improved to 29-73 overall and 17-34 at home.

J.D. Martinez's second home run of the night, a two-run shot off Mychal Givens in the eighth inning on an 0-2 pitch, reduced the lead to 7-5. Givens recorded the last two outs and Brad Brach notched his 11th save despite being scored upon for the fourth time in eight appearances this month, though this run was unearned.

Two infield hits, an error and a walk put Brach on the verge of a blown save, but Mookie Betts grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

Martinez homered off Ramírez with two outs in the top of the first inning and Mitch Moreland followed with a single. The Orioles had more to learn about Ramírez, whether he could regroup and keep them engaged in the game or pilot a blowout loss.

In only his fifth major league start, Ramírez retired 12 of the next 13 batters before the home runs. He was charged with three runs and four hits in five innings, with one walk and six strikeouts.

The game was delayed for 27 minutes by rain. Britton and the other relievers headed to the clubhouse. Britton returned to the bullpen as play resumed, but the Orioles weren't going to use him.

Britton's last appearance with the Orioles will be his scoreless inning Saturday afternoon in Toronto. I've been told that the deal, sending Double-A Trenton pitcher Dillon Tate and Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre pitchers Josh Rogers and Cody Carroll to the Orioles, is likely to be finalized on Wednesday.

Schoop has homered in three consecutive games and four of the last five. His first 12 home runs this season were solo shots, but the last two have come with a runner on base.

In 20 games this month, Schoop has collected 29 hits in 79 at-bats to bust out of a slump that engulfed him for most of the first half.

"Jon's a good hitter," manager Buck Showalter said before the game. "Sooner or later ... of course, we've been saying that a lot this year about guys with track records that just haven't seemed to be able to get there.

"It's got nothing to do with one conversation. He's just gotten back to being more of himself, not trying to do too much. The home runs he's hit, he's trying to be selective. He doesn't let something snowball."

Martinez's first home run came on a 91 mph fastball from Ramírez after Betts flied out and Andrew Benintendi struck out. Ramírez followed Moreland's single by striking out Xander Bogaerts to end the first inning and Jackie Bradley Jr. to open the second.

Mike Wright Jr. retired the side in order with two strikeouts in the sixth. Left-hander Paul Fry stranded a runner in the seventh and was charged with a run in the eighth after Givens inherited a runner and served up Martinez's second homer.

Jackie Bradley Jr. led off the ninth with an infield hit and took second base when Beckham flipped the ball over Chris Davis' head. Rafael Devers reached on an infield hit with one out to reduce the lead to 7-6 and Swihart walked before Brach induced the double play ball.

Britton came back onto the field after the final out for the celebratory handshakes. The goodbyes will come later.