Final: Red Sox 5, Orioles 1 - Sale, steamed, helps finish off sweep

BALTIMORE - Despite tempers flaring on a steamy day, the Red Sox finished off a sweep of the woeful Baltimore Orioles, cruising to a 5-1 victory and sending the Orioles to their seventh straight loss and 14th in the last 16 games.

Chris Sale allowed one run in six-plus innings while the Red Sox got home run support from their two power sources -- Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez each hit solo shots. Xander Bogaerts knocked in one run with a sacrifice fly in a three-run fifth, with Rafael Devers and Eduardo Nunez each contributing run-scoring singles.

Sale, who was unhappy with home plate umpire Brian Knight's strike zone all afternoon, boiled over as he was lifted in the seventh, directing some choice language at Kinght from the third base line and earning an ejection.

 

WHO: Red Sox vs. Baltimore Orioles
WHEN: 3:05 p.m.
WHERE: Oriole Park at Camden Yards
WHAT'S UP: The Red  Sox have taken the first two games of the series to guarantee themselves a series win, having gone 8-1 in nine meetings with the Orioles this season. The Sox leave for Seattle and a cross-country flight after this game, with a four-game set against the Mariners set to begin Thursday, before the trip concludes in Minnesota. The Orioles are reeling, having lost six in a row and 13 of the last 15.
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Chris Sale (5-4  2.83) vs. RHP Yefry Ramirez 
TV/RADIO: NESN/WEEI 93.7 FM

LINEUPS



IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:

5:23    That was an ugly end to Chris Sale's day. He got squeezed a few times by home plate ump Brian Knight and you could see the frustration building. When he walked two to open the bottom of the seventh, he was removed by Alex Cora, but Sale, upon crossing the third base foul line, has some choice words for Knight and got himself ejected.

4:48   The Sox have opened things up some in the fifth with three walks, a sacrifice fly and two singles, pushing their lead to 4-0.

4:38  Not long ago, it appeared as though Jackie Bradley Jr. was emerging from his two-month slump. Bradley hiked his average about 50 points and was hitting the ball with authority. But now that surge is over and he's sliding backward again. Since June 6, he's 1-for-22 - that one hit was a homer last Saturday at Fenway -- and is back down to .183.

4:22 Chris Sale is trying to bite his tongue with home plate umpire Brian Knight. He was walking off the mound, expecting that he had struck out Mark Trumbo, only to have the pitch in question called ball four. Two innings ago, Sale threw a pitch that ended up in the dead middle of the plate in the third inning to Joey Rickard, but that, too, was called a ball. Sale knows he has to stay in the game, given the state of the depleted bullpen. But his patience is wearing.

 

RED SOX

Betts RF
Benintendi LF
Bogaerts SS
Martinez DH
Devers 3B
Nunez 2B
Holt 1B
Leon C
Bradley CF

 

Rickard RF
Mancini 1B
Machado SS
Valencia 3B
Schoop 2B
Trumbo DH
Gentry CF
Wynns C
Peterson LF