Betts hits three homers, Gausman allows three as Boston wins 6-2

Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman gave up three home runs in his last start at Houston. Tonight, he gave up three more in the first two innings. Meanwhile Boston's Mookie Betts hit three in this game by himself.

Gausman gave up five early runs tonight. He would settle in, but the damage was done as Boston beat the Orioles 6-2 at Camden Yards.

The Red Sox (32-20) have taken the first two games of the series by a combined 13-4 score as the Orioles (28-22) have fallen three games back of Boston for first in the American League East. The Orioles have lost seven of their last nine games.

Betts hit the second pitch of the game 428 feet for his fourth career leadoff homer. Dustin Pedroia followed with another as Boston had back-to-back leadoff homers five pitches into the game.

The last time an Orioles pitcher gave up back-to-back homers to start the game, it was Rodrigo Lopez on June 14, 2006 at Toronto. The last time it happened at Camden Yards, it was against Rick Krivda on May 21, 1996. Boston had not done this since July 27, 2011 against Kansas City.

The O's fell behind 5-0 in the second when Betts hit a three-run homer after Gausman had walked two. Betts hit a third home run when he added a solo homer in the seventh off Dylan Bundy. Betts now has 12 homers and is the first Boston leadoff batter to ever have a three-homer game. He is the first Red Sox player to have a three-homer game since Will Middlebrooks on April 7, 2013 at Toronto.

Gausman took the loss to fall to 0-3 with an ERA of 3.78. He allowed five runs and five hits over six innings, throwing a season-high 113 pitches. After allowing just three homers over his first six starts, he has allowed six over 11 innings in his last two outings.

Former Orioles farmhand Eduardo Rodriguez, making his 2016 season debut, got the victory. Over six innings, he allowed six hits and two runs with no walks and three strikeouts. He threw 89 pitches, 61 for strikes.

Nolan Reimold's RBI double in the third and Adam Jones' RBI single in the fifth produced the two Orioles runs. The Orioles went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.The Birds have been held to three runs or less in seven of the last 10 games.

Tomorrow night, the Orioles will pitch right-hander Mike Wright (2-3, 5.05 ERA) against right-hander Joe Kelly (2-0, 6.30) in the third contest of the four-game series.