Tillman, Jones lead O's past Boston

Chris Tillman and Adam Jones grabbed co-starring roles tonight as the Orioles beat Boston 6-0 in the opener of a big weekend three-game series in front of 39,063 at Camden Yards. Tillman pitched seven shutout innings and Jones homered twice as the the Orioles ended a three-game losing streak, won for ninth time in the last 13 games and improved to 58-46. The Orioles continued their recent mastery of the Red Sox. They are 6-2 this year against Boston and 19-7 since the start of last season. They are 25-10 in their last 35 against Boston. This was the O's fifth shutout of the season and first since Tillman did it against this same Boston team June 14 here. Tillman was excellent, allowing just two hits with three walks and eight strikeouts to tie his season and career high. He improves to 13-3 with an ERA of 3.62. Tillman becomes the first Orioles' 13-game winner since Erik Bedard in 2007. He is now 3-1 with an ERA of 2.08 in eight career starts against Boston. Over his last four outings against the Red Sox, Tillman is an impressive 3-0 with an ERA of 0.68, allowing just two earned runs over 26 1/3 innings. Jones got the O's offense off to a fast start by following a Nick Markakis two-out single in the first with a two-run homer over the right-field scoreboard. Jones added a solo shot to almost the same spot in the fifth to make it a 4-0 lead. He hit Nos. 21 and 22 tonight. It's Jones' third career multi-homer game, the last was July 29, 2012 at Toronto. He entered tonight 7-for-32 in his career with no homers off John Lackey. Manny Machado added two RBIs with a single and solo homer after entering the game 1-for-16 and 7-for-46 over his previous 11 games. His homer in the seventh was his ninth of the season. J.J. Hardy added a solo homer in the eighth. Lackey, who entered eighth in the league in ERA at 2.95, took the loss. He had been 12-4 with a 3.31 ERA in 20 career starts against the Orioles, but tonight gave up nine hits and five runs over 6 1/3 frames. The O's took the opener of the series and will need one more win in the next two days to win their 10th series in the last 11 meetings between these clubs.