G25: Orioles 6, Red Sox 4 (13)

Orioles - 001 200 100 000 2 - 6 10  3
Red Sox - 012 010 000 000 0 - 4  8  0

Franklin Morales got the first out of the thirteenth, but allowed a single to Matt Weiters, a walk to Wilson Betemit, and an RBI single to Chris Davis. The Orioles added a run on a sac fly from Mark Reynolds off Scott Atchison. The Red Sox went down in order in the home half.

Lester (6-5-3-3-2, 99) was handed leads of 1-0 and 3-1, but gave the runs back as soon as possible. Of the six Boston relievers, two stood out: Matt Albers threw two shutout innings (8th and 9th) and Alfredo Aceves struck out six batters in 2.2 innings (10th-12th).

Boston took a 1-0 lead in the second when Cody Ross tripled and scored on a passed ball. In the third, Adrian Gonzalez got the first of his three hits; Dustin Pedroia doubled him to third. A groundout from David Ortiz scored Gonzalez and Pedroia scored on Ross's fly to left. In the fifth, Will Middlebrooks doubled and scored on Pedroia's single.

After the fifth, the Red Sox were quiet with the bats, getting only two runners to second base. In the bottom of the ninth, Ryan Sweeney singled and was bunted to second, but Mike Aviles and Middlebrooks both grounded out (seeing a total of only three pitches). In the tenth, Pedroia was hit by a pitch with one out and Ross walked with two down, but Darnell McDonald ended the inning with a fly to center.

The Red Sox (11-14) are 7 GB the Rays.

Wei-Yin Chen / Jon Lester

The Orioles (16-9) come to Fenway having won two of three games in New York (1-2, 7-1, 5-0). Baltimore held the Yankees to two runs or fewer in three straight games for the first time since 1978. (But that was over two different series months apart: May 31 (3-2), June 1 (1-0), and August 4 (2-1).)

Rookie lefty Chen, 26 years old, has a 2.22 ERA in four starts this year (24.1 IP, 24 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 8 BB, 19 K). This will be his fifth major league start.

Lester threw seven shutout innings against the White Sox in his last start.