BALTIMORE — The momentum the Boston Red Sox brought with them from the West Coast was no match for a rookie with a wicked sinkerball and a torrid fastball.
Zach Britton allowed one run in six innings to earn his fourth win, Derrek Lee had two hits and scored twice, and the Baltimore Orioles ended Boston’s five-game winning streak with a 4-1 victory Tuesday night.
Britton (4-1) became the first rookie starter in franchise history to win four games in April. He has an impressive 2.84 ERA and owns nearly half of Baltimore’s nine victories this year.
On this night he outdueled Boston starter Clay Buchholz (1-3), who allowed four runs and 12 hits in 6 2-3 innings.
“Four runs with the way (Britton) was pitching was too much,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “He bent but he didn’t break. We just didn’t have the offense tonight.”
Blame Britton, who gave up five hits, walked two and struck out two.
Lefthanded hitter David Ortiz, who went 1 for 2 with a walk against the rookie, said, “He’s super-tough on righties. He’s a young kid who just come in the league. It seems like he has good stuff. He was hitting 95 (mph).”
After splitting a pair of games in Oakland, Boston took four straight from Los Angeles and was on the verge of reaching .500 for the first time.
Britton wouldn’t let it happen.
“I can see why they like him,” Francona said. “He’s got velocity. It looks like he’s got some poise.”
Adam Jones drove in two runs for the Orioles, who won for only the third time in 14 games, and Vladimir Guerrero had his first three-hit game since coming to Baltimore as a free agent during the offseason.
After Britton left, Jim Johnson notched four strikeouts in two innings and Kevin Gregg worked a perfect ninth for his third save.
Buchholz never retired the side in order, but he managed to keep the Red Sox close.
“I thought I threw the ball better tonight than I did in the earlier game (against Oakland) when I got a win out of it,” the right-hander said. “I felt like I was throwing all my pitches for strikes. They sat back and hit a couple of good curve balls.”
Kevin Youkilis drove in the run for the Red Sox, who got only six hits.
Baltimore ended Boston’s run of 19 straight scoreless innings by taking a 1-0 lead in the second. Luke Scott singled, took third on a one-out double by Mark Reynolds and scored when Matt Wieters’ bouncer hit first base for a single. Buchholz then struck out Robert Andino and Brian Roberts.
The Orioles used two singles, a walk and a sacrifice fly by Jones to go up 2-0 in the third.
Boston closed to 2-1 in the fourth when Dustin Pedroia singled, advanced on a groundout, stole third and scored on a fly ball by Youkilis.
The Red Sox loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth before Adrian Gonzalez grounded into a fielder’s choice.
In the bottom half, Lee and Guerrero singled before Jones hit a run-scoring fly to center. Reynolds chased Buchholz with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
NOTES: Wieters was 7 for 7 with 11 RBIs with runners in scoring position before grounding out with two on in the seventh. … Boston starters have a 1.33 ERA over the last 10 games. … Roberts extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a sixth-inning single. … Buchholz was 5-2 lifetime against Baltimore and 3-0 in his previous three starts at Camden Yards.
White Sox 3, Yankees 2
NEW YORK — Late substitute Brent Lillibridge made two spectacular catches in a row to save the White Sox in the ninth inning, and Gavin Floyd pitched Chicago to a 3-2 victory Tuesday night over the suddenly slumping New York Yankees.
Lillibridge entered as a pinch-runner in the eighth and scored on Paul Konerko’s go-ahead homer off struggling setup man Rafael Soriano (1-1).
Lillibridge stayed in the game in right field and, with two runners on in the ninth, raced back to the wall to make a terrific catch of Alex Rodriguez’s opposite-field drive, robbing the slugger of a game-tying hit that probably would have left runners at second and third with one out.
Robinson Cano then hit a line drive to right and Lillibridge charged in, making an all-out dive to snag the ball for the final out.
Mariners 7, Tigers 3
DETROIT — Miguel Olivo hit a blooper-reel home run and Felix Hernandez extended his dominance of the Detroit Tigers in the Seattle Mariners’ 7-3 win Tuesday night.
Hernandez (3-2) beat the Tigers for the seventh straight time, allowing three runs — two earned — on four hits in six innings.
Phil Coke was routed by Seattle for the second time in a week, giving up seven runs in 4 1-3 innings. In his two starts against the Mariners, Coke is 0-2 with 13 runs allowed in eight innings.
After Detroit went up on an unearned run in the first, the Mariners tied it on a second-inning play that will be on all the blooper reels.
Olivo hit a routine-looking fly to deep left but Ryan Raburn struggled to find it in the sun. While still short of the warning track, Raburn lunged back, only to deflect the ball high into the air and into the Tigers’ bullpen for Olivo’s first homer of the season.
Two innings later, Justin Smoak hit Seattle’s second homer to left — this one clearing Raburn and the fence — for a 3-1 lead. Detroit, though, tied it in the bottom of the fourth on Brandon Inge’s two-run double.
As an ominous thunderhead passed south of the stadium, the Mariners went up 7-3 with four runs in the fifth.
Ichiro Suzuki started the scoring with an RBI single, and Chone Figgins followed with a two-run double. Coke left the game after hitting Milton Bradley, but reliever Brayan Villarreal threw away a pickoff attempt to allow Figgins to score Seattle’s seventh run.
NOTES: Smoak rejoined the team in Detroit after spending time on the breavement list due to a death in his family. Mariners manager Eric Wedge said that Smoak asked to go right back into the lineup. … The edge of a storm did hit the stadium at the end of the sixth inning, causing most fans to scamper for cover, but the rain lasted less than two minutes.