Betts’ second homer came after he dodged a fastball that zipped over his head, prompting home plate umpire Doug Eddings to issue warnings to both teams. “Home run would have been nice, but I was just trying to get another hit at that point”. He also made a diving catch in shallow right. Rodriguez, 23, struck out three without a walk.
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“He really spread it open for us”, Farrell said of Hernandez.
Baltimore starter Mike Wright yielded a career-high four home runs before being pulled with two outs in the third.
“You go through periods where kind of everything falls your way, then you go through periods where they jump up and catch balls”, said Orioles manager Buck Showalter, whose team has dropped seven of nine. Jair Bogaerts, a first baseman/catcher, was released in 2011 after playing two seasons in the Dominican Summer League, but Xander’s career is still on the rise.
Betts got started early, leading off the game with a solo shot on the second pitch he saw that easily cleared the 410 marker in deep center field.
Boston took an early 1-0 lead in the first on somewhat of a unusual play.
Rodriguez has twice before that September game also pitched against the O’s.
The Orioles scored a run in the third inning on an infield single by Joey Rickard and an RBI double by Nolan Reimold.
Nobody’s going to blame the O’s for not getting anything going against Boston’s Wright, who’s a knuckleballer.
NOTES: The Red Sox have outscored opponents 54-16 in the first inning since April 11.
So the O’s fell 7-2 in the opener of this four-game set, but again there’s not much you can say about facing a knucklerballer.
Betts entered the game with a.276 average and.800 OPS, placing him among the better hitters in the American League.
-This is the first time the Red Sox started the game with back to back home runs since July 27, 2011 (Ellsbury, Pedroia).
Pedroia – a four-time Gold Glove victor – had two errors in 50 games this season. Betts made the walks pay as he lined a ball down the left field line that just made it over the left field wall for a 3-run homerun to make it 5-0.
Mallex Smith’s three-run triple in the second inning was the catalyst for the Atlanta Braves’ 5-3 win over the San Francisco Giants, while Neil Walker hit a home run as the New York Mets secured a 1-0 victory at home to the Chicago White Sox. But, that’s assuming that Texas can keep Yu Darvish’s arm healthy, the Mariners can keep key pieces to their offense off the DL (Leonys Martin, Ketel Marte), and the Blue Jays are able to bounce back from their miserable start to the season.
On Wednesday, the Red Sox will be trotting out right-hander Joe Kelly.
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With the score tied 1-all, Edwin Encarnacion doubled to begin the seventh, chasing CC Sabathia (3-4) after 80 pitches and bringing Dellin Betances out of the bullpen.
