G18: Orioles 4, Red Sox 2

Red Sox - 002 000 000 - 2  6  0
Orioles - 000 400 00x - 4 10  0

In his previous start against the Orioles, Steven Wright threw 34 pitches and allowed eight runs. On Saturday night, he was marginally better: he upped his pitch count to 58 and gave up only four runs (3.2-9-4-0-0, 54)!

The Red Sox actually held a lead in this game, thanks to a two-run homer by Jackie Bradley (who also singled and walked).

But Wright, who gave up a single in each of the first three innings, faltered with one out in the fourth. Chris Davis doubled to right. On the next pitch, Trey Mancini homered to left-center. Jonathan Schoop fell behind 0-2 before homering to left. Wright got the second out, but three more hits - Caleb Joseph's double, Craig Gentry's infield single, and Adam Jones's single to right - made it 4-2 and ended his night.

Boston put runners on first and second with one out in the fifth, but could do nothing. In the sixth, the Red Sox had a man on second with one out and then men on first and second with two outs, and again came up empty against Jayson Aquino (6-6-2-3-2, 99). They went in order in the seventh and eighth. Marco Hernandez was hit by a pitch with two outs in the ninth, but Xander Bogaerts hit a soft liner to second to drop Boston's record to 10-8 (3 GB).

Steven Wright / Jason Aquino

Bogaerts, SS
Bradley, CF
Betts, RF
Ramirez, DH
Moreland, 1B
Young, LF
Leon, C
Sandoval, 3B
Hernandez, 2B

Dustin Pedroia is not in tonight's lineup.

Rob Bradford reports Pedroia "was getting treatment on his surgically-repaired knee" after last night's loss. ESPN's Scott Lauber has a bit more:

While several Boston Red Sox players and even manager John Farrell seethed late Friday night over a hard, high slide into second base by Baltimore Orioles star Manny Machado, Pedroia walked through the clubhouse gingerly but without a limp or a noticeable scrape on the back of his left calf. ...

[D]on't think for a second that the Red Sox will excuse what they perceive to be a foul by Machado. ...

Pedroia claimed he saw the replay only once and on the center-field video screen as he struggled to get to his feet ... Farrell, meanwhile, described the slide as "extremely late." Asked if he thought it was dirty, he repeated, "It was a late slide." ...

"I don't know if [Machado] tried to mean any harm at all, but he definitely went past the bag," Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly said. ...

Said shortstop Xander Bogaerts: "It was a hard slide. He passed the base, if you're asking me, and he injured the leader of our team."

Two starts ago (April 12), Wright was rocked by the Orioles for eight runs in only 1.1 innings.