Bad day at the office: Errors, walks lead to loss in rain-shortened game at Fenway Park

With a chance to win the series and move into first place in the American League East, the Orioles fell flat today. They allowed five unearned runs on three errors and had just four hits in a rain-shortened 7-1 loss to Boston.

Play was halted before the bottom of the seventh and the game was not resumed after a 1-hour, 42-minute rain delay. So, it is an official game that lasted 6 1/2 innings.

The Red Sox are 8-5 while the Orioles fall to 7-6 after a split of this four-game series.

The bottom of the third was beyond ugly for the Orioles this afternoon. Boston scored four runs on two errors, four walks and just one hit. Boston sent 10 batters to the plate and errors by pitcher Wei-Yin Chen and third baseman Manny Machado were costly. All four runs were unearned as the Red Sox broke a 1-1 tie.

Chen bobbled a grounder by Mookie Betts to score one run. He issued a bases-loaded walk later in the inning and a grounder by Shane Victorino to Machado's backhand side went off his glove for a two-run error, making it 5-1.

The Orioles had allowed just one unearned run through 12 games this season before they gave up five in this game.

Boston took a 1-0 lead in the first. Betts led off with a single, stole second and went to third on catcher Ryan Lavarnway's throwing error. Betts scored on a David Ortiz sac fly.

The O's tied it in the second. Travis Snider tripled and scored on Ryan Flaherty's double. A native of Maine, Flaherty went 2-for-3 and is now 22-for-53 (.415) in his last 14 games at Fenway Park. He is 7-for-14 (.500) during a four-game hitting streak.

Chen lasted just 4 1/3 innings, allowing three hits and five runs with all five being unearned. He walked five to tie his career high and fanned three, throwing 54 of his 95 pitches for strikes. Chen has had two starts of just 4 1/3 innings in his first three outings this season.

Chen falls to 0-1 with a 3.07 ERA. He has issued eight walks in 14 2/3 innings through three starts. Last year, he averaged just 1.7 walks per nine innings. Orioles starters pitched a total of 18 1/3 innings in this series. Chris Tillman's 5 1/3 inning outing Saturday was the longest of the series.

This was just the second loss for the Orioles in their last eight games at Fenway Park, where they are 21-11 since the start of the 2012 season. They are 2-1-1 in their first four series of 2015 and 0-5 in games their opponent scores first.

Now the Orioles' road trip heads north to Toronto, where a three-game series begins Tuesday night with Bud Norris (0-1, 12.38 ERA) facing left-hander Mark Buehrle (2-0, 3.75 ERA) at 7:07 p.m.