O's game blog: O's face Boston in series finale (O's win 8-3)

A rather eventful road trip for the Orioles through New York and Boston comes to an end tonight at Fenway Park. The Orioles went 1-2 at Yankee Stadium and are 1-2 at Boston as the four-game series ends tonight.

The trip began with the Orioles leading New York by one game for first place in the American League East. They begin play tonight at 16-10, one game behind New York (17-9). The trip began with the Yankees scoring 26 runs and winning last Friday and Saturday over the Orioles in the Bronx. Then it was on to Boston where tensions and emotions have been high from the first pitch Monday night.

This game ends a run of 24 games versus AL East opponents among the O's first 27 games of the year. They have gone 14-9 in the division games and went 2-1 at Cincinnati in their only non-AL East series so far.

The Orioles are 4-4 versus Boston, 3-3 against New York, 2-1 versus Tampa Bay and 5-1 against Toronto. The Orioles are 8-3 in AL East home games and 6-6 on the road.

At 15-12, Boston is one game behind the pace of last year's club (16-11), which won 93 games. Tonight, the Red Sox are wrapping up a nine-game homestand during which they have gone 4-4. For Boston, 22 of its 27 games have been decided by three runs or fewer, including 15 of the last 17. The Sox are 9-5 in games decided by one or two runs, after going 38-39 in such games last season.

Boston has gotten on a pretty solid pitching roll recently. Red Sox pitchers have a 2.43 ERA in the club's last 13 games, the lowest mark in the majors during that time. During that span, Boston starters have a 2.62 ERA, the lowest in the major leagues, and its relievers have a 1.93 ERA, the third-lowest.

Right-hander Tyler Wilson (1-1, 5.40 ERA) makes his sixth appearance of 2017, his first as a starter and his first since April 18. He was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk the next day. His last outing for the Tides was a start on April 28 where he threw four scoreless innings, allowing four hits on 83 pitches.

Wilson becomes the seventh different starting pitcher for the Orioles on the year. The rotation's ERA is 6.04 over the last six games.

Last June 16, Wilson pitched eight scoreless innings on three hits at Fenway Park. In five career games (two starts) against the Sox, he is 1-1 with a 2.61 ERA. In two games at Fenway Park, he has thrown 11 shutout innings, giving up just five hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. Boston batters are 5-for-38 (.132) against Wilson at Fenway Park.

Kendrick is making his Boston season debut and first appearance against Baltimore. His last major league start came on Oct. 2, 2015. In that season for Colorado, he was 7-13 with a 6.32 ERA.

This year, he made four starts for Boston's Triple-A Pawtucket affiliate, going 1-3 with an ERA of 6.00. Over his first two starts for the Pawsox, he gave up 16 runs over 13 innings. In his last two, he allowed three runs over 14 innings, with seven scoreless his last time out.

Three Orioles have career numbers versus Kendrick and all are good. Seth Smith is 12-for-23 (.522) with no homers and three RBIs. Mark Trumbo is 3-for-7 (.429) with one homer and four RBIs. J.J. Hardy is 2-for-5 with no homers or RBIs.

In his past two games at Fenway, Hardy is 3-for-7. In his last 11 games at that ballpark, he is batting .324 with nine RBIs. Hardy has been a much better hitter on the road in 2017. He is batting only .088 (3-for-34) at Camden Yards and is hitting .278 (15-for-54) in away games.

On the farm, in his first 10 games for Triple-A Norfolk, righty reliever Jimmy Yacabonis has yet to allow a run over 13 1/3 innings. Opponents are hitting .073 against him (3-for-41). Right-hander batters are 1-for-26 (.083) against him and he is five-for-five in save chances.

Tides outfielder Logan Schafer has seven outfield assists to lead the International League. Not only does that number lead the league, but it's more than every other team except Columbus, which has eight.

O's end trip with a win: A road trip that began with the Orioles allowing a lot of runs ended with them scoring a few. They beat the Red Sox 8-3 tonight to split the four-game series, improve to 17-10 overall, 5-4 against Boston and finish the trip with three wins in seven tries.

Seth Smith began the night with just two hits over his past 16 at-bats and then went 4-for-4 with a two-run double, a walk and scored twice. He is batting .286. Manny Machado's three-run homer off Kyle Kendrick in the fourth snapped a 3-3 tie; it was his third homer of the series. Jonathan Schoop added three of the 17 hits that tied the O's season high, which was also against Boston.

Right-hander Tyler Wilson, called up from Triple-A to make this start, got the win. Over six innings, he allowed six hits and three runs to improve to 2-1 with an ERA of 4.91.

Joey Rickard made a great catch of Andrew Benintendi's blast to right field in the last of the seventh. The snow-cone leaping and sprawling catch probably saved three runs with the bases loaded and two outs and his team leading 8-3.

This game concludes a stretch of 24 of 27 games against AL East teams for the Orioles to begin the season. They went 15-9 (.625) in the stretch. Starting Friday night, their next 13 games will be played outside the division. They host the Chicago White Sox tomorrow night at Camden Yards.