G57: Orioles 13, Red Sox 1

Orioles - 030 320 113 - 13 18  3
Red Sox - 000 010 000 -  1  7  0

Martín Pérez (4-9-6-1-2, 82) got lit up and Dylan Covey and Tzu-Wei Lin each allowed three runs. 

Lin, who entered the game at shortstop in the eighth, made his pitching debut in the ninth inning. His first offering, a 65-mph curveball to Austin Hays, was hit for a home run. Lin gave up a single and a couple of doubles before the inning was over.

The Orioles began the night having lost 12 of their last 15 games. In those 12 losses, they averaged a paltry 1.9 runs per game; in nine losses, they were shutout or scored one run. They came close to matching their season-high in runs (one shy of the 14 they scored 10 days ago against Atlanta) and hits (one fewer than the 19 against the Nationals on August 7). They did pound out a season-high 10 extra-base hits.

The first five Orioles reached base in the second inning and Baltimore led 3-0. The Orioles doubled their lead in the fourth on two doubles, a sac fly, and a home run from Jose Iglesias.

The Red Sox's lone run scored on a double play after the bases were loaded with no outs. Of course. Jackie Bradley and Bobby Dalbec singled and Michael Chavis was hit by a pitch. Christian Arroyo GIDP and JBJ scored. Alex Verdugo flied to center to complete the squander against Alex Cobb (7-6-1-2-4, 89), who lasted seven innings for the first time since August 18, 2018 (he missed most of last year because of hip surgery).

Boston's seven hits were spread among seven batters, with Dalbec also drawing a walk.

Alex Cobb / Martín Pérez

Verdugo, RF

Devers, 3B 

Bogaerts, SS 

Martinez, DH 

Vázquez, C 

Bradley, CF 

Dalbec, 1B 

Chavis, LF 

Arroyo, 2B

In their last six games, Boston's starting pitchers have posted a 0.84 ERA (three earned runs in 32 innings). . . . Nathan Eovaldi finished the 2020 season with 13 scoreless innings. In his final four starts, he allowed only two runs in 21 innings, striking out 25 while walking only two.

Martín Pérez has had three starts this year in which he pitched at least six innings and allowed one or no runs. He's tied for the most such starts in MLB. Go figure.

Also, Pérez did not receive a decision in any of those three starts: August 22 vs Orioles, September 3 vs Blue Jays, September 18 vs Yankees. 19.2 innings, 11 hits, 2 runs, 5 walks, 18 strikeouts, an ERA of 0.92. Zero wins. (But, please, sportswriters and announcers, don't stop citing a pitcher's W-L as a proper measure of his performance).