Holt's tiebreaking homer in the eighth leads Red Sox past the Orioles

A walk, an error and a blast.

That did in the Orioles tonight in the top of the eighth inning. With two outs and no one on in a 4-4 tie, Brian Matusz came on in relief of Tommy Hunter and walked Pablo Sandoval. Darren O'Day replaced Matusz and an error by third baseman Manny Machado followed. That brought up Brock Holt.

Hitting .414 at gametime, Holt hit a three-run homer to right on a 1-2 pitch and Boston went on to a 7-5 win in the opener of this three-game series in front of 37,359 at Camden Yards.

Dating to last September, O'Day has allowed five homers over his last 18 regular-season innings. The two-out error made all three runs in that inning unearned.

This was the Orioles' fifth straight loss, their longest streak since September 2013, and they've allowed 38 runs during the losing streak. The loss leaves them with a 7-10 record as Boston improves to 10-7.

Earlier, the Orioles took a 2-0 lead when Jimmy Paredes, batting third, came through again. He followed Machado's single in the fourth with a two-run homer to right for a 2-0 lead. He hit No. 2 on 2-2 slider from Rick Porcello.

But that lead didn't last very long. Boston scored four times with two outs and none on in the fifth. After Miguel Gonzalez walked Mookie Betts, a single by Dustin Pedroia followed. In search of the third out, Gonzalez couldn't get it before David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez hit back-to-back homers.

It was a three-run shot for Ortiz and his fourth on the year and a solo for Ramirez and his sixth as Boston went back-to-back for the first time in 2015.

In the last of the inning, the O's cut the deficit to 4-3. Rey Navarro doubled off Ramirez's glove in deep left for his first major league hit and scored on a single by Everth Cabrera.

Gonzalez, who began the night with a 5-1 career record and ERA of 2.81 against Boston, gave up eight hits and four runs over six innings with one walk and strikeout. He threw 91 pitches.

By going six innings tonight, Gonzalez ended a run of eight straight starts by Orioles pitchers lasting 5 1/3 or fewer innings.

Meanwhile, the O's tied the game 4-4 in the seventh. Chris Davis led off with a walk and Delmon Young singled to knock out Porcello. Three batters later, Cabrera's sac fly tied the game. But the O's could not get the lead when reliever Alexi Ogando fanned Machado with the bases loaded and two outs.

Chris Davis' solo homer, his third on the year, cut the deficit to 7-5 in the Orioles eighth and was the club's 24th homer of the year.

In the second game of this series on Saturday night, Wei-Yin Chen (0-1, 3.07 ERA) faces Justin Masterson (2-0, 5.74 ERA).