Ugly loss: Defense comes unglued as O's lose series opener

Orioles right-hander Dylan Bundy held his own in the anticipated showdown tonight against the team that led the majors in runs last year. But the Orioles didn't do much on offense themselves and then had a major meltdown on defense in the last of the seventh.

Bundy was not going to overcome that lack of support and took the loss as Boston beat the Orioles 8-1 at Fenway Park in the opener of a two-game series. It was a 2-1 until the Red Sox scored three each (with some help) in the seventh and eighth innings.

The Orioles fall to 4-2 and Boston is 4-3.

Leading 2-1 in the seventh, Boston scored three runs as the Orioles defense came completely unglued. It was a rare sight for this team, but it was plenty ugly.

Darren O'Day replaced Bundy after he issued a one-out walk. O'Day quickly got Chris Young to hit what looked like an inning ending double play ball, but shortstop J.J. Hardy didn't come up with the ground ball and it was ruled an error. Christian Vázquez followed with a bloop to right that second baseman Jonathan Schoop went back on and looked close enought to it to make the catch, but he didn't and it went for a single to load the bases. Dustin Pedroia then hit a two-run ground single up the middle off Hardy's glove and Andrew Benintendi's single made it 5-1. On that play, Benintendi moved up a base on a throwing error by right fielder Craig Gentry. So two errors charged in the inning and almost a third. Yep, a real mess.

Bundy's final line: 6 1/3 innings, seven hits, three runs with two walks and three strikeouts. He falls to 1-1 with an ERA of 2.70 and threw 106 pitches. With some offense and better defense, he could have left with a win against a team that he posted a 6.75 ERA against last year.

Much earlier, Hanley Ramirez drew a leadoff walk off Bundy in the second and moved to third on Mitch Moreland's double. But Bundy fanned Xander Bogaerts, allowed a sac fly to Pablo Sandoval and struck out Young. He minimized the damage, but fell behind 1-0.

The lead doubled in the fifth on a Pedroia sac fly. It scored Young, who singled with one out and went to third on a Vázquez double.

In the last of the eighth, Vázquez hit a two-run triple to right for a 7-1 lead and a 4-for-4 night. He had two singles, a double and the triple and is 5-for-5 on the year. He scored on Pedroia's infield RBI single that gave him a four-RBI night.

The Orioles failed to score with runners on second and third and one out in the second. They finally got on the board in the top of the seventh. Chris Davis singled to start the inning and end the night of lefty Drew Pomeranz.

Welington Castillo greeted reliever Heath Hembree with a single into the left field corner, sending Davis to third. It looked like Castillo could get to second for a double as the throw came high and to third base, but he remained at first. With one out, Schoop's fielder's choice grounder scored a run and the O's trailed 2-1. But they could not get more than one there and they ended the seventh 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles will want to burn this tape and wake up tomorrow and see if the sun comes up. It was a terrible night in Boston that fortunately counts as just one loss.

So the Oriole have back-to-back losses after their 4-0 start. They will try to split this series at Fenway Park tomorrow night when Ubaldo Jiménez (0-0, 10.38 ERA) pitches against knuckleballer Steven Wright (0-0, 5.40 ERA).