Boston breaks through in the fifth to beat O's, 5-0 (quotes added)

Well, there were not 31 runs scored today in the first game of this day-night doubleheader. Boston lefty David Price kept the Orioles from scoring any as the Red Sox won 5-0 to improve to 83-35.

Price went six scoreless on four singles and a double to improve to 12-6 with a 3.75 ERA. He did not walk a batter and fanned 10, throwing 94 pitches. His ERA is 1.03 his past four starts, with three runs allowed over 26 1/3 innings.

Orioles right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis, recalled as the 26th man for the doubleheader, had it rolling through four innings this afternoon. He held the Red Sox to one single on 45 pitches in a 0-0 game.

But then Boston struck for three runs and hit two homers off him to lead 3-0 in the fifth. Xander Bogaerts singled to start that inning, and scored one out later when third baseman Eduardo Núñez lined a two-run homer into the left-field corner. He hit a 3-0 fastball for his seventh homer. One out later, center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. blasted a 1-0 fastball out to right-center. He hit his 10th, and it went 419 feet for a 3-0 lead.

Yacabonis, converting from the bullpen to a starter this year at Triple-A Norfolk, has been held to mostly four- and five-inning outings with the Tides, and maybe he tired today in the fifth. His fastball, which was 93 and 94 mph early in the game, averaged 91.4 mph in the fifth. Boston went 1-for-13 against him the first four innings and then 4-for-6 in the fifth before he was replaced by lefty Sean Gilmartin, who got the inning's final out in making his O's debut.

Boston added a run against Gilmartin in the sixth. Bogaerts doubled with one out to go 3-for-3 on the day. He stole third and came around on the play on a throwing error charged to catcher Austin Wynns. That made it a 4-0 lead. Bradley hit a 421-foot solo homer off Miguel Castro in the ninth. That completed the scoring. This was Bradley's third career multi-homer game.

The Orioles got almost nothing going versus Price. He had at least one strikeout in every inning. He reached 10 strikeouts for the first time this season and 37th time in his career.

The Orioles' Adam Jones doubled to center with one out in the sixth. It was the 300th double of his O's career. Jones went 2-for-4 and is batting .287. Center fielder Cedric Mullins went 1-for-3 with a single and is 4-for-7 over his first two games. But the Orioles struck out 14 times and were shut out for the 10th time and have lost the first two of this four-game series.

The Orioles (35-82) host the night portion of this twinbill at 7:05 p.m. Right-hander Yefry Ramírez (1-4, 5.66 ERA) takes the mound as the Orioles look to gain a split.

The postgame quotes

Yacabonis on his outing: "Just a couple of pitches that, if I execute them a little bit better, I probably put a zero up that inning. But, I mean, it happens. At least got it to the fifth, and the first four were good."

Yacabonis starting to get the hang of being a starter after move from 'pen: "For sure. Definitely developing my secondary pitches, just from getting the reps. And having that extra day to throw bullpens and work on stuff. Definitely feel like I am progressing to the point where I can read hitters better. I can see what guys are looking for and know what their approach is, and that is helping this year."

In pitching more innings, does Yacabonis lose some velocity, as he did today?: "For sure. I've never been up to this high in innings in my career before. I think last year I had, like, 70 in Norfolk and 20 up here and finished with 90, plus spring training. I've never had this many innings in my career before, so I feel like getting used to that, and my body getting used to that, will help me keep those ticks on the fastball once I get to the fifth, sixth inning."

Gilmartin on his outing: "Definitely good to get back out there on a big league mound, for sure. You know, didn't really do a good job getting ahead of hitters. Kind of struggled with that all day long. But was able to make pitches when I needed to and get outs."

Gilmartin on his tough and strange travel today to get here: "It was, for sure. I got here this morning probably around 7. Didn't get picked up right away. The driver that was picking me up ended up going to the hotel first instead of the airport. So, didn't get picked up right away. But got to the hotel and got settled in. Got the phone call to come over to the ballpark. I got here around 11:30. Got out of the Uber and went around the back of the Uber to the trunk and was tapping on the lid. The Uber driver drove away with my equipment bag in his trunk. Took me about a good 20 to 30 minutes for him to drive back and drop off my stuff. That was a little stressful, but got through it. Interesting day."

Gilmartin said there are opportunities now with the O's: "Yeah, you know it is definitely a good organization to be in right now with what they are doing here and trying to do. The opportunity is there for a lot of guys. A lot of the younger guys that are down there in Norfolk are playing well, and it is just a matter of time. Especially with September around the corner."