The Red Sox got some help from Baltimore's shoddy defense on a long sloppy day.
Triston Casas hit a three-run homer and Boston averted a three-game sweep with a rain-delayed 7-3 victory over AL-best Baltimore on Sunday that halted the Orioles’ seven-game winning streak.
“It helps to be strong, I guess,” said Casas, smiling, of his opposite-field homer over the Green Monster.
Reese McGuire added an RBI triple and Rafael Devers a run-scoring single for the Red Sox, who stopped their four-game losing streak. Boston is six games behind Seattle for the last AL wild card, also trailing Texas by 5 1/2 games.
Closing in on their first playoff berth since 2016 and looking for their first division title in nine years, the Orioles lead second-place Tampa Bay by three games in the AL East.
Adam Frazier had a two-run triple for Baltimore, which finished a 7-2 trip.
“We played in terrible conditions all day,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “We just didn't play our best baseball all around ... Unbelievably tough conditions to pitch in with the wet mound. ”
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After a 42-minute delay at the start, much of the game was played in light rain, and there was a 1:28 delay with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.
With Boston leading 4-3 in the sixth, Casas sent a cut fastball from Cole Irvin into the first row of seats above the Monster for his 24th homer. Ceddanne Rafaela reached when he grounded into a forceout, and Rafael Devers’ grounder went through first baseman Ryan O’Hearn's legs for an error.
A day after getting 23 hits in a 13-12 loss, the Red Sox wiped out a 3-0 deficit with two runs in each of the third and fourth innings against Grayson Rodriguez (5-4).
Brayan Bello (12-8) worked five innings, giving up three runs and seven hits.
“It wasn't a good outing for me to be honest with you with all the rain that was coming down,” Bello said through a team translator.
Boston's runs in the third scored when third baseman Ramón Urías tried to backhand Trevor Story’s medium-speed grounder and the ball rolled under his glove and into the left-field corner for a two-base error.
McGuire tripled into the center-field triangle in the fourth and scored on Devers’ infield single off Urías’ glove on a hard liner.
“There were some different conditions,” Rodriguez said. “I felt like my first time in Fenway (Park) would have been a little drier. That's just something you have to deal with.”
Baltimore went ahead 3-0 in the second when Frazier tripled after Aaron Hicks’ RBI single.
ALTERNATE WIN AGAIN
The Red Sox improved to 12-3 in their city connect yellow-and-powder blue uniforms this season. They're 27-7 overall since they were introduced.
NICE GRAB
Rafaela made a long run before making a leaping catch at the base of the center-field wall on Anthony Santander’s drive in the third inning.
“When the ball is in the air, if its in the stadium most likely he'll get it,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I saw that in spring training and back home in winter ball.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: LHP James Paxton went on the 15-day IL with right knee inflammation, ending his season. He went 7-5 with a 4.50 ERA in 19 starts. … RHP Garrett Whitlock was reinstated from bereavement list and pitched two hitless innings. He said afterward that his brother Gavrie drowned in Georgia last weekend. “You never know how long you've really got with someone,” he said. “Just make sure to hug the ones you love and make sure to tell them.”
UP NEXT
Orioles: RHP Dean Kremer (12-5, 4.07 ERA) is scheduled to start the opener of a three-game interleague series against St. Louis on Monday. RHP Dakota Hudson (6-1, 4.43) is set for the Cardinals.
Red Sox: RHP Kutter Crawford (6-7, 4.36) is slated to start the first of a four-game series against the Yankees at Fenway Monday. RHP Clarke Schmidt (9-8, 4.54) is in line for New York. Boston has gone 8-1 against the Yankees this season, as they face each other looking to avoid finishing last in the AL East.
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