Red Sox pull away late from pitchers' duel to post 7-2 win

The Orioles restored some semblance of order to their pitching staff today. Right-hander Dylan Bundy took a shutout to the sixth. But it got away from him - and then there was the matter of the Orioles getting anything going against Boston left-hander Chris Sale.

They got to Sale for a couple of runs in the sixth, ending his run of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run at 22. But the Orioles still were two runs short today until Boston scored three in the ninth for a 7-2 win in front of 30,050 at Camden Yards.

With this result, the O's have now gone 15 series without winning one, going 0-14-1 since late April. And Boston has gone 10 straight series without losing one to the Orioles, going 8-0-2 since September 2017.

For the first half of the game, Bundy and Sale were locked in an old-fashioned pitchers' duel. The scoreless stretch ended when both teams scored in the sixth. It was Boston with three and the Orioles two for a 3-2 Red Sox lead.

Bundy had fanned eight on 84 pitches through the fifth, but the first four Boston batters reached that inning to knock him from the game. It happened fast.

Xander Bogaerts hit an RBI double into the left field corner for the game's first run and scored on a single by Brock Holt for the 2-0 lead. When third baseman Hanser Alberto muffed Sandy León's grounder, a third run scored for the 3-0 lead.

Over five-plus innings, Bundy yielded eight hits and those three runs (two earned) with two walks and eight strikeouts. He threw well again today and allowed three earned runs or less for the eighth consecutive start and 10th time in his past 11 outings. His career ERA versus Boston was 5.08 entering the game.

Sale was dominant early on against the Orioles and his streak of not allowing an earned run reached 22 innings when he went to the mound up 3-0 in the sixth. But the O's got two to close the gap.

Alberto and Trey Mancini singled to start that frame, each picking up their second hit of the day and each would later score. Renato Núñez doubled in one and Jonathan Villar's sac fly made it 3-2. But Sale overmatched Keon Broxton, who struck out with two on to end the inning, his third strikeout today.

The Red Sox added an insurance run in the seventh when J.D. Martinez homered to right center off Richard Bleier. He hit No. 16 to make it a 4-2 edge. Chris Davis, pinch-hitting for Broxton, was called out on strikes with two on in the last of the eighth against Matt Barnes. He took four straight pitches.

O's pitchers had allowed 33 runs and 44 hits the past three games. That onslaught got slowed today. But O's hitters scored three or less for the 11th time in 16 games. They are 6-37 when scoring four runs or less in 2019. The series with Boston ends Sunday before the O's start a West Coast road trip Monday night at Oakland.