Rich Hill silences O's bats as they lose Boston series opener

Rich Hill proved to be too big of a mountain for Orioles hitters to climb tonight.

The 35-year-old left-hander was pitching just a few weeks ago for the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks after he was released by Washington. Tonight, Hill pitched a complete-game two-hitter for Boston in a 7-0 victory over the Orioles at Fenway Park.

Needing to continue to reel off wins for their longshot playoff hopes, the O's instead lost as their bats were quiet. The Orioles fell back under .500 at 76-77 with nine games left.

Hill gave up a single to Nolan Reimold, the first batter he faced. Then he retired 16 straight into the sixth inning before his own two-base throwing error made Dariel Alvarez the first Oriole to reach second base. A walk followed, but Hill got Manny Machado to chase an 0-2 fastball to end that threat. Hill did not allow his second hit until Alvarez led off the ninth with an infield single.

The game ended when right fielder Mookie Betts made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Chris Davis of a two-run homer as the Orioles suffered their 10th shutout. It was Hill's second career shutout, the other coming in 2006.

In his three Boston starts, Hill is 2-0 with an ERA of 1.17. In 23 innings, he has allowed 10 hits and three runs with two walks and 30 strikeouts. He threw 116 pitches.

Kevin Gausman walked three batters tonight and each cost him a run. One came with two outs and none on and two came to lead off an inning.

He issued a free pass to Mookie Betts with two outs and none on in a third. A single and Xander Bogaerts' RBI double followed for the 1-0 lead, but the O's cut a second run down at the plate on that play. Brock Holt drew a leadoff walk and scored in the fifth. He went to second on a sac bunt, to third on a groundout and scored on a willd pitch for a 2-0 lead.

Boston scored three times and knocked Gausman out in the sixth. A leadoff walk was followed by an infield single and then a David Ortiz two-run double for the 4-0 edge. The baserunners arrived right behind one another at the plate as Dustin Pedroia and Bogaerts scored. T.J. McFarland then came on and Holt's RBI double made it 5-0. Boston added two more in the eight. Ortiz had three doubles and three RBIs tonight.

Gausman went five innings plus three batters, allowing five hits and five runs with the three walks and five strikeouts. He threw 99 pitches and falls to 3-7 with an ERA of 4.49. In 14 road games in 2015, Gausman is 1-6 with a 6.10 ERA.

Boston had scored six runs during a three-game losing streak but got seven tonight. The Red Sox (73-80) are 21-14 since Aug. 18. The Orioles fall to 11-6 this year against Boston, including a mark of 4-4 at Fenway Park.

On Saturday at 4:05 p.m., Wei-Yin Chen (10-7, 3.36 ERA) faces left-hander Craig Breslow (0-3, 4.53 ERA), who will come out of the Boston bullpen to make his first start of the season.