BOSTON — Chris Sale, given offensive support for the first time by his new team, threw eight strong innings and Hanley Ramirez hit two long solo homers to power the Red Sox to a 5-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.
Sale (2-2), who had received four runs of support in his first five starts with Boston, allowed three hits and struck out 11 — his fifth straight double-figure strikeout game — while his ERA rose from 1.19 to 1.38.
He retired the first 13 batters, yielded an RBI double to Trey Mancini in the fifth and a long solo home run to Manny Machado in the seventh.
The Red Sox (14-12) scored their first three runs in six innings against starter Alec Asher (1-1), who attended the same high school as Sale in Lakeland, Florida. Mookie Betts drilled a two-run double off Mychal Givens in the seventh — on a night where much of the attention was on Baltimore’s Adam Jones and the racial incident he went through Monday night.
While the Jones situation captured many of the headlines following Monday’s game, there was also the Manny Machado/Red Sox drama. Sale took care of the Boston side of that by throwing a pitch behind Machado with two out in the first inning. That brought a warning to both benches — and the end to anything else.
Jones made two fine catches in the game but was also guilty of his first error of the season on a throw home attempting to cut off Boston’s first run.
Craig Kimbrel worked a perfect ninth inning for his American League-leading ninth save.
It was the 22nd multi-homer game for Ramirez, who has four homers in the last four games, five for the year.
The Orioles turned a triple play in the eighth inning when J.J. Hardy misplayed a Jackie Bradley Jr. pop fly but the Boston runners didn’t run. Keith Moreland was trapped off second and tagged by Jonathan Schoop, who stepped on second to force Dustin Pedroia and threw to first to retire Bradley, who was out because he had already gone to the dugout.
It was the Orioles’ first triple play 2000 and the first the Red Sox hit into since 2001.
NOTES: Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he would have considered pulling his team off the field if CF Adam Jones had told him about the racial taunts he was receiving during Monday’s game. … Baltimore C Welington Castillo was placed on the 10-day disabled list with shoulder tendinitis and Francisco Pena was recalled from Triple A. … RHP Kevin Gausman, who gave up 18 earned runs and six homers in 14 innings over his last three starts, pitches for the Orioles against LHP Drew Pomeranz on Wednesday. It will Pomeranz’s fifth start of the year and third against the Orioles. … Boston RHP Carson Smith, coming back from Tommy John surgery, threw off the mound for the first time. … The Orioles activated LHP/closer Zach Britton and he pitched the eighth inning. RHP Mike Wright was sent back to Norfolk. … The Red Sox still hadn’t named a starter for Thursday’s series finale with RH Steven Wright placed on the disabled list with a left knee sprain. Wright went to New York to consult with a knee specialist and a decision will be made on surgery