Orioles defeat Red Sox 3-2 and take over first place in AL East

BOSTON - The Orioles got most their scoring out of the way early tonight.

The scoring. The hits. Any semblance of an offensive pulse.

Rule 5 pick Joey Rickard singled with one out in the first inning and Manny Machado followed with his 17th home run, a fly ball that stayed inside the Pesky Pole in right field to give the Orioles a quick lead.

Red Sox left-hander David Price retired the next 19 batters, Chris Tillman did his best to keep up, and the Orioles held on for a 3-2 victory at sold-out Fenway Park that snapped their three-game losing streak and gave them sole possession of first place in the American League East.

The Orioles improved to 37-26. Zach Britton improved to 20-for-20 in save chances by recording the last five outs, but he let an inherited runner score on Hanley Ramirez's RBI single with two down in the eighth. Britton struck out the side in the ninth.

Tillman (9-1, 2.87 ERA) retired 12 in a row before Jackie Bradley Jr. homered with one out in the seventh inning. Mychal Givens began to warm, and the Red Sox extended the inning when Travis Shaw reached on an infield hit with two outs.

Christian Vazquez grounded out on Tillman's 120th pitch, a season high, and the bullpen took over the game.

Jonathan Schoop led off the top of the eighth by homering on Price's first pitch to expand the lead, but the margin shrank again. No shutdown inning to follow.

Givens retired one batter in the bottom of the eighth and put runners on the corners with one out. Britton struck out David Ortiz, gave up Ramirez's RBI single to center field and snatched Bradley's sharp one-hopper and threw to first for the final out.

A 34-pitch second inning threatened to shorten Tillman's leash, but he became more economical and got on a roll after Dustin Pedroia's one-out double in the third.

Tillman allowed one run and five hits over seven innings, with two walks and seven strikeouts. He's registered nine quality starts in his last 11 outings. In his last two starts, he's allowed one run and 13 hits in 14 1/3 innings, with two walks and 16 strikeouts.

Mark Trumbo snapped Price's streak by reaching on an infield hit down the third base line with two outs in the top of the seventh inning.

Chris Davis' home run streak ended at five consecutive games. He went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts against Price and popped up against Craig Kimbrel.