G119: Red Sox 8, Orioles 1 (6, rain)

Red Sox - 012 023 - 8 13  1
Orioles - 010 000 - 1  4  0

The Red Sox won their sixth straight game (a rain-shortened affair) and swept the two-game series at Camden Yards. Boston is now one game behind Toronto, while the Orioles dropped to third place (2 GB).

The Red Sox now make their way to Detroit for four games against the Tigers, with the first game Thursday afternoon.

Jackie Bradley doubled, homered and drove in four runs, while Mookie Betts singled twice, walked, stole a base, and scored three times. Brock Holt had two singles and a double in three at-bats.

Bradley was hit by a pitch in the second and later scored on Travis Shaw's single. After Baltimore tied the game in the bottom half, Bradley belted a two-run homer to center with two outs in the third to give Boston a 3-1 lead.

Betts singled and stole second to start the top of the fifth. With one out, Sandy Leon crushed a two-run dong to deep right. Holt followed with a double, but he was stranded.

With one out in the sixth, Xander Bogaerts singled and scored on David Ortiz's double to the wall in right-center. Betts singled and then he and Ortiz came home on Bradley's two-bagger to left-center.

David Price (6-4-1-0-4, 84) gave up a double to the first batter he faced, but other than Chris Davis's solo shot in the second, Price did not allow another Baltimore runner past first base.

David Price / Dylan Bundy

Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Betts, RF
Bradley, CF
Leon, C
Holt, 3B
Shaw, 1B
Benintendi, LF

Boston and Baltimore are tied for second place, 1 GB Toronto, who battered the Yankees 12-6 last night. (Update: The Blue Jays beat the Yankees 7-4 this afternoon, so the Red Sox and Orioles are both 1.5 GB as of the start of tonight's game.)

Eduardo Rodriguez, on the hamstring tightness that forced his exit from last night's game:

I felt it on one pitch before the strikeout to [Mark] Trumbo [in the fourth inning] — the pitch before. When I threw the pitch, I felt something get tight in there. When I came out for the fifth, I was feeling like it was getting worse so I didn't want to do something to something inside of there. I feel like we made the right decision before it got worse.

John Farrell:

I think we got this early. ... We checked him in between innings. There was no reduction of strength or range of motion. But it was clear the first two pitches he threw to start the fifth, he was not right. He was definitely favoring it so we got him out of the game at the time. ... I think we got it early enough to where it doesn't seem to be a significant restriction at this point. But we'll know more as we get through the coming days.

How has Mookie Betts clubbed 28 home runs this season?

Ah, shoot, I have no idea. Somehow it's going over the fence. Again, I'm going to continue to say I don't know why, but I'm just trying to put good swings on it and enjoy it.

Betts has been a beast against the Orioles this season:

In five games [at Camden Yards] this season, he has seven homers -- more than any opponent has hit in a single season in Baltimore since the Orioles arrived from St. Louis in 1954, according to ESPN Stats & Info. He's 10-for-21 (.476) with a 1.476 slugging percentage on Eutaw Street, and 20-for-47 (.426) with a 1.000 slugging percentage in 11 games against the Orioles overall this season.

Elias adds:

Over the last 50 years, only three other players had at least three multi-homer games as a visitor against a particular team in one season: Graig Nettles against the Indians in 1974 (three such games), David Nilsson versus the Twins in 1996 (three), and Carlos Delgado against the Mariners in 1999 (three).

In 11 games against the Orioles this season, Betts is hitting .426 (20-for-47) with eight home runs. The last Red Sox player with a .400 batting average and eight homers against one team over an entire season was Ted Williams versus the Indians in 1957. Williams hit .474 (27-for-57) with nine homers in 18 games against them that year.

Betts has seven home runs in five games at Camden Yards this season. Only three other players in major-league history hit seven homers in their first five games as a visitor at one park in a season: Lou Gehrig at Cleveland's League Park in 1930, Willie Mays at Milwaukee County Stadium in 1961, and Carlos Beltran at Wrigley Field in 2004.

The Mookie Betts Experience - Catch It!