BOSTON (AP) — Wade Miley knows he hasn’t been very good since coming to the Orioles.
On Monday night, he was even worse.
Miley retired just four batters — giving up four runs before recording an out — and allowed six runs as the Boston Red Sox ran away from Baltimore for a 12-2 victory.
Since being acquired from Seattle on July 31, the left-hander has gone past the fifth inning just twice in eight starts. He’s failed to get out of the second a pair of times.
“It just happened fast. Real quickly it was over it,” he said. “Everything I threw they just hammered.”
Miley fell to 1-5 with Baltimore in the shortest start of his career.
“He had a good fastball, but command got him,” Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. “They’re a really good offensive club — like we are — and they’re going to make you pay for those mistakes. He made a lot of them. I kept hoping he’d find his stuff, but he didn’t.”
David Ortiz hit his 536th home run to tie Mickey Mantle for 17th on baseball’s career list, and David Price allowed just a pair of solo homers to lead the Red Sox, keeping Boston’s AL East lead at two games over second-place Toronto. The Orioles dropped to three out, but still one game ahead of Detroit for the second wild card.
Miley (8-13) allowed five runs in the first inning before loading the bases in the second.
Asked how he thinks he’s done so far with Baltimore, he said: “Obviously, that’s not really a good question, it’s not been very good.”
Chris Young homered, doubled twice and singled, and Hanley Ramirez also homered for the Red Sox, who maintained a two-game lead over Toronto.
The Red Sox won for the fifth time in six games, scoring in each of the first seven innings before going down in order in the eighth. Ramirez hit his eighth homer in his last 15 games as Boston, the top-scoring team in the majors, got 11 runs or more for the fifth time in 10 games.
Price (16-8) allowed two runs on two hits and zero walks, striking out nine in eight innings for his seventh straight victory. It’s the longest winning streak in his career for the left-hander, who signed a seven-year, $217 million free agent contract over the offseason.
Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts led off the bottom of the first with singles and then Ortiz lined one to the warning track in left-center. Left fielder Steve Pearce jumped to glove the ball, but it came out as he tried to avoid crashing into the Green Monster.
Bogaerts had already begun retreating to first before Ortiz, rounding the bag, signaled for him to run in the other direction. The Orioles claimed Pearce had possession of the ball before dropping it, but the review upheld the original call and Ortiz had a single.
Mookie Betts then hit a liner that stymied Pearce and went over his head for a double. When Ramirez followed with a single to left, Pearce was nonchalant in getting the ball back in; Betts, having stopped at third, scored to make it 4-0.
Miley finally recorded an out, then got another on Sandy Leon’s sacrifice fly that gave Boston a 5-0 lead. Jackie Bradley Jr. was caught stealing to end the inning.
Boston scored single runs in each of the next five innings, including Ortiz’s 33rd homer of the year into the Baltimore bullpen in the sixth. The Red Sox scored two more in the seventh.
DIFFERENT OPINION
Showalter and Pearce both thought the LF caught Ortiz’s drive in the first.
“I know I caught the ball,” Pearce said.
Replays showed he didn’t appear to ever have control as the ball fell to the ground.
“I thought he caught it,” Showalter said.
HOLD EVERYTHING
Showalter asked for a review of the game-ending double play as the Red Sox players were coming out of their dugout to celebrate.
“Dirty Water” by the Standells was played over the PA — as they always do in Fenway Park after Red Sox victories — and Boston’s players stood in foul territory, milling around waiting for confirmation that the game was over.
Once the 55-second review confirmed the call, they joined their teammates on the field.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: RHP Darren O’Day is scheduled to pitch in a simulated game on Tuesday. He has been on the DL since Aug. 12 with a right shoulder rotator cuff strain.
Red Sox: Knuckleballer Steven Wright hasn’t resumed throwing yet. Manager John Farrell said he is getting better from a right shoulder strain but it will be challenging to get him ready with just a few weeks left in the season.
UP NEXT
Orioles: Game 2 of the series is Tuesday night, with righty Dylan Bundy (8-5) scheduled to start.
Red Sox: Lefty Drew Pomeranz will start for Boston.
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