BALTIMORE (AP) — Gunnar Henderson’s grand slam in the second inning put Baltimore ahead to stay, and Corbin Burnes pitched seven sharp innings to help the Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Wednesday night.
The Orioles, winners of six of their last seven, have not lost any of their last 18 series against AL East foes, going 13-0-5. The defending division champs took two of three from Boston, scoring five runs in the second inning of the finale.
“We’re in a great spot,” Burnes said. “Still got a long way to go. I think we would all agree we’re playing pretty good baseball right now, but the most important part is to be healthy and play good baseball when you start October. Right now it’s great winning all these games, but when you’re looking at the long run of things, you want to make sure you’re ready for September and October.”
Burnes (5-2) allowed an unearned run and three hits. He struck out five and walked three.
Kutter Crawford (2-4) gave up five runs in six innings, five days after yielding a season-high six runs against Milwaukee.
Ramón Urías also homered for Baltimore, hitting a solo shot in the seventh.
With Adley Rutschman and Jordan Westburg getting the day off, the last five spots in the Baltimore batting order included just one player batting over .203 at the start of the game. Those hitters played a role in the Orioles’ big inning, though. Anthony Santander singled, giving Baltimore runners at first and second, and Urías hit an RBI single with two outs to tie the game at 1.
Then No. 9 hitter James McCann drew his first walk of the season to load the bases. Henderson followed with a drive to right. It was his 18th home run of the year, tying Houston’s Kyle Tucker for the major league lead.
“Urías put a good swing on him, aggressive with a man in scoring position,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “And the walk to McCann was the one. He’s not trying to walk him, of course, but that put us in a bad spot.”
Boston’s only run came with plenty of assistance from the Orioles in the second. A single to left and a throwing error put Connor Wong on second with one out. Henderson was charged with an error when he couldn’t hold onto Burnes’ pickoff throw, allowing Wong to advance to third. Dominic Smith hit a groundball to drive in the game’s first run.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: Boston put OF Tyler O’Neill (right knee inflammation) on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Sunday.
Orioles: Westburg did not play after being hit around the hand by a pitch Tuesday night, although manager Brandon Hyde said he was feeling a lot better and X-rays were negative.
UP NEXT
Red Sox: Begin a four-game series at Detroit on Thursday night.
Orioles: Off Thursday before hosting a three-game set against Tampa Bay.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
