Pedroia Hits 2 HRs As Red Sox Beat Orioles 10-1
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Dustin Pedroia homered twice and had a season-high five RBIs to back a dominant pitching performance by rookie Henry Owens, and the Boston Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles 10-1 Wednesday night to avert a three-game sweep.
David Ortiz also went deep for the last-place Red Sox, his 35th homer of the season and 501st of his career.
Making his eighth big league start, Owens (3-2) gave up six hits over 7 2-3 shutout innings. The 23-year-old lefty struck out four, walked none and reduced his ERA from 5.25 to 4.33.
Pedroia hit a two-run drive off Mike Wright (2-5) in the third and a three-run shot against Jorge Rondon in the fourth to stake Boston to a 9-0 lead.
One year earlier on this date, the Orioles clinched their first AL East title since 1997. In this one, Baltimore took a step backward in its long-shot bid to snag the second AL wild card.
The Orioles had won six of their previous seven games following a season-defining 3-15 stretch.
Making his first career appearance against Boston, Wright fell behind when Ortiz homered to deep center on a 2-2 pitch.
Brock Holt singled in a run before Pedroia connected in a three-run third, and Boston added five runs in the fourth.
That was more than enough backing for the 6-foot-6 Owens, who went 3-8 with Triple-A Pawtucket before being called up on Aug. 4.
Baltimore scored an unearned run in the ninth inning on an RBI grounder by Steve Pearce.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Red Sox: RHP Joe Kelly has been shut down for the season with a shoulder injury. Kelly won eight straight starts before receiving a no-decision in an abbreviated outing Tuesday night.
Orioles: RHP Miguel Gonzalez seems to be moving closer to returning from a bout with shoulder tendinitis. "I can tell in his face that he's feeling good," manager Buck Showalter said.
UP NEXT
Red Sox: Boston gets a day off before sending Rick Porcello (8-12, 5.06 ERA) to the mound Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at Toronto.
Orioles: Baltimore begins its final road trip at Tampa Bay on Thursday night. Chris Tillman (9-11, 5.21 ERA) is 5-9 lifetime against the Rays and 0-4 with an 8.42 ERA in his last four games overall.
(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
