Gonzalez tops Lester and Davis drives in three as O's win series vs. Boston

The Orioles beat Jon Lester. They won the series over Boston three games to one. They moved to within 1 ½ games of the first-place Sox. What was there not to like about the O's 6-3 win today over the Sox in front of 41,311 at Camden Yards? The Orioles continued their recent dominance of the Red Sox by winning their sixth straight series against Boston and they have taken nine of the last ten series between the teams since Sept. 19, 2011. The Orioles are 5-2 in 2013 against the Red Sox and have won 14 of their last 19, and 24 of their last 34 against Boston. The Orioles took a 3-0 lead with a pair of clutch, two-out hits in the last of the third. An Adam Jones RBI double made it 1-0. Chris Davis followed with a two-run homer to right center for a 3-0 lead. Davis added an RBI double when the O's scored twice to lead 5-0 in the fifth. It was Davis' 23rd homer of the season and No. 100 of his career. Over his last 10 games against the Red Sox, Davis is 12-for-35 with seven homers and 13 RBIs. Lester took the loss to fall to 6-4 with an ERA of 4.37. He gave up five runs and nine hits over five innings. In four starts against the Orioles since the start of the 2012 season, he has an ERA of 5.25 and the Orioles are 4-0 in those games. Lester is now 14-2 with two straight losses in 22 career starts against Baltimore. Miguel Gonzalez took that 5-0 lead and a two-hit shutout to the seventh inning. But with one out he gave up a double, single and then a three-run homer to Will Middlebrooks and Brian Matusz came in. Gonzalez gave up five hits and three runs over 6 1/3 to improve to 5-2 with an ERA of 3.75. Gonzalez has an ERA of 2.21 over his past three starts and is 3-0 with an ERA of 3.00 in six starts since he came off the disabled list on May 21. The Orioles are 8-4 when he starts this season, winning his last four outings. The Orioles completed a 5-2 homestand today and have won six of eight and 12 of their last 18 to go to 40-30 on the season heading into a road trip that begins Monday night at Detroit.