BALTIMORE — David Ortiz drilled his second home run of the night in the 10th inning as the Boston Red Sox outlasted the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3 in the opener of a three-game series Friday night.
Yoenis Cespedes added a solo home run and Ortiz contributed an RBI single for the Red Sox, bringing his season total to 102 RBIs. Junichi Tazawa (4-3) picked up the win with a scoreless inning of relief and Edward Mujica worked the 10th for his seventh save.
Xander Bogaerts reached on a throwing error with one out and Ortiz followed by lining an 0-1 fastball from right-hander Darren O’Day (5-2) over the scoreboard in right for his 34th home run. Nelson Cruz had three hits and an RBI and Alejandro De Aza added three hits and a run scored for the Orioles, who fell three games behind the Los Angeles Angels in the race for the best record in the American League and homefield advantage throughout the postseason.
Cruz came up with the bases loaded and two out in the third inning and sent a slow roller to third, just beating the throw from Garin Cecchini to allow Jonathan Schoop to score. Ortiz led off the next half-inning and blasted a 1-0 fastball from Kevin Gausman out to right-center in front of Cespedes, who took a slider to straightaway center to put the Red Sox on top.
Ortiz added an RBI single in the fifth but left-hander Craig Breslow came on with two out and none on in the seventh and surrendered a double to De Aza before Delmon Young’s pinch-hit RBI triple. Young came across with the tying run when Allen Craig had to come off the bag to grab Bogaerts’ throw from short.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Ortiz is the first player in Red Sox history with eight seasons of 30 home runs and 100 RBIs, breaking a tie with Ted Williams. … Boston starter Allen Webster allowed one run and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings while Orioles starter Gausman was reached for three runs — two earned — in five frames. … Baltimore CF Adam Jones (rest) got the night off with the team already having clinched the division, and David Lough started in center.