O's take big early lead and escape with 7-6 win at Fenway

It was far, far from easy, but it was an important win for the Orioles. They beat the Red Sox 7-6 in front of 37,513 this afternoon to split the four-game series at Fenway Park. A day after blowing a 5-0 lead, the O's jumped out to a 6-0 advantage in the third inning today and twice saw Boston pull within two runs late before pulling within one run in the last of the ninth. Down 7-5 in the ninth, Boston loaded the bases with one out against Tommy Hunter. He fell behind Mike Napoli 3-1 but got him to ground out as a run scored to make it 7-6. With runners on second and third, Hunter got ahead of Mike Carp 1-2 and he grounded to first to end it. O's fans everywhere can start breathing again. Earlier, Zach Britton and Brian Matusz pitched out of jams in the seventh and eighth. The Orioles knocked out Boston starter Clay Buchholz during a six-run, seven-hit top of the third inning. It was their biggest inning of the season. It featured RBI singles by Nick Markakis, Nelson Cruz, Chris Davis and Jonathan Schoop, an RBI double by Steve Clevenger and an RBI grounder by Adam Jones. Buchholz lasted just 2 1/3 innings as his ERA grew to 7.71. Staked to the big early lead, Wei-Yin Chen took a one-hit shutout on 64 pitches to the last of the fifth, but suddenly became very hittable. Boston scored three runs on three hits to get back in the game. Boston rallied in the seventh with a solo homer by David Ross off Britton, cutting the O's lead to 6-4. Britton would escape a major jam with two on board when he got David Ortiz to ground out. Ryan Flaherty came up with a big RBI single to center in the eighth. He became the seventh different Oriole with an RBI and his hit made it 7-4. But Napoli's homer in the last of the eighth pulled Boston within two again. Later, Matusz got a strikeout and caught stealing double play when he fanned pinch-hitter Jonathan Herrera and the O's got Xander Bogaerts in a rundown between second and third base. With the win, the O's improved to 9-9 on the year and 8-7 against the AL East. They are 27-17 since 2012 against the Red Sox and are 16-8 at Fenway Park since Sept. 20, 2011.