Sox hit two early homers, Machado nearly beaned in series finale

As today's game began, the Boston Red Sox ranked last in the majors with eight homers, and Baltimore Orioles pitchers were on a roll. They had allowed just three runs over their past 42 innings.

That all changed, and fast. Within a span of eight pitches to start the game, Boston had four runs and had hit two homers off Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman. The Red Sox went on to win 6-2 and end the Orioles' four-game winning streak.

The hard feelings between the teams escalated again in the last of the eighth. Boston right-hander Matt Barnes threw a 90 mph pitch high and tight toward Manny Machado. It hit his bat, not him, but the pitch seemed an obvious retaliation. The Red Sox didn't like Machado's slide that injured their second baseman, Dustin Pedroia, on Friday night.

Barnes was ejected, the dugouts never emptied and cooler heads eventually prevailed. But the tension betwen these teams clearly will linger into a series that starts May 1 at Fenway Park.

MASN cameras later captured an exchange across the field between Pedroia and Machado, during which Pedroia seemed to say "That was not me."

Machado's at-bat continued, and Joe Kelly replaced Barnes. On the first pitch he saw from Kelly, Machado smoked an RBI double to center that made it 6-1. Hyun Soo Kim's infield RBI single in the ninth scored the O's second run.

Coming off an outing in which he allowed eight runs on Tuesday in Cincinnati, Gausman allowed a leadoff single to Xander Bogaerts on a 1-1 pitch. He advanced to third on Andrew Benintendi's single on a 1-1 pitch. Then Mookie Betts hit the first pitch he saw for a three-run homer to left. Hanley Ramirez blasted the next pitch for a long home run to left.

Betts turned around a 95 mph Gausman fastball for his second homer of the year, which went 384 feet. Ramirez hit No. 1, blasting that one 110 mph and 429 feet.

The Red Sox had scored a total of two runs on 12 hits in the first two games of this series but broke out today, and now have a six-game winning streak in day games.

Gausman allowed a third home run before exiting. Boston's Mitch Moreland homered to center in the fifth for a 5-0 lead. Gausman today posted a final line of 5 1/3 innings, eight hits, five runs, three walks, four strikeouts and three homers allowed. He threw 98 pitches and falls to 1-2 with an ERA of 7.50.

O's starting pitchers have eight quality starts the last 10 games, and Gausman's two games are the two that were not. In his past two outings, he has pitched eight innings total, allowing 16 hits, 13 runs and four homers. The three homers he gave up today tied his career high. This game marked the fifth time he has given up that many.

Right-hander Stefan Crichton relieved Gausman and gave up a single, wild pitch and RBI single off the right-field wall by Benintendi, as Boston went ahead 6-0. Benintendi went 5-for-5 as Boston had 14 hits.

Meanwhile, former Orioles minor leaguer Eduardo Rodriguez pitched six scoreless against his former club. He permitted just one hit, throwing 108 pitches, and got the win. Rodriguez is 1-1 with an ERA of 3.12.

The O's only hit off him came on Chris Davis' single in the fifth. An inning later, Rodriguez walked the bases loaded around a line out and pop out. But he got Trey Mancini to line to third to end the inning. Pablo Sandoval dropped the liner but threw to second for a force, ending a 28-pitch inning.

The O's missed a chance for their first three-game home sweep of Boston since June 9-11, 2015. They fall to 12-5 for the season, 3-2 versus Boston and 6-2 at home. The Red Sox are 11-8.

The O's homestand continues Monday with the start of a three-game series against Tampa Bay. Right-hander Ubaldo Jiménez (1-0, 5.51 ERA) faces right-hander Chris Archer (2-0, 3.20 ERA).