Rough inning: O's allow five unearned runs in sixth as they lose at Boston

Bud Norris was rolling along with a three-hit shutout on 58 pitches through five innings. The Orioles provided him a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth, but the last of the sixth was a horror show for the Orioles tonight.

It began with two errors that opened the door for five Boston unearned runs as the Red Sox beat the Orioles 5-1 at Fenway Park tonight, ending a six-game losing streak against Baltimore.

Former Oriole Alejandro De Aza hit a grounder to first to lead off that frame for Boston. The ball bounced away from Chris Davis. By the time he threw to Norris, who was covering the bag, De Aza was safe. Davis might have made the play himself, and it also appeared Norris was late covering the bag.

After a passed ball moved De Aza to second, No. 9 hitter Sandy Leon bunted to the third base side of the mound and Norris booted that ball for a second consecutive error.

Then, three of the next four batters produced run-scoring hits to make the O's pay big time. Mookie Betts' RBI single tied it 1-1. Dustin Pedroia's two-run single made it 3-1, and a David Ortiz two-run homer extended the lead to 5-1. Pedroia left the game with hamstring tightness after his single, joining Hanley Ramirez - who had been hit on the hand by a batted ball while running toward second base an inning earlier - on the bench.

The two errors and Norris' inability to overcome them and/or minimize the damage led to five unearned runs in that inning. The O's had allowed one unearned run in the entire month of June over 21 games.

The O's took 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth when Chris Parmelee doubled to start the frame and later scored on a Davis one-out single. Parmelee got a great read on the blooper to center and scored ahead of the throw home.

Norris falls to 2-6 with an ERA of 6.70. Over 5 2/3 innings, he gave up the five runs (no earned runs) on seven hits, throwing 89 pitches. For the 13th time in the last 17 games, the O's starter failed to pitch six innings or more.

The game featured the major league debut of right-hander Mychal Givens. Called up from Double-A Bowie on Saturday, Givens pitched a 1-2-3 last of the eighth on 11 pitches, getting two groundouts and a strikeout of Mike Napoli to end that frame. He became the 999th player in the history of the Orioles.

The Orioles fall to 37-34 on the year, 15-21 on the road and 23-20 against the American League East. They are 8-4 against Boston and 19-12 since the start of the 2014 season.

The Red Sox (32-41) won for the fifth time in 15 games and have scored 75 runs over their last 13 games.

In the series and road trip finale on Thursday at 1:35 p.m., Miguel Gonzalez (5-4, 3.33 ERA) comes off the disabled list to start against former Oriole farmhand Eduardo Rodriguez (3-1, 3.13 ERA).