All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 11-2 loss to the Orioles, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE:
HEADLINES
Price shelled: This wasn't the worst start of the season for David Price, but it makes the shortlist. He failed to get out of the second inning on June 13 against Texas and gave up six runs in that one. But at least that was to a contending club with a formidable lineup. This, however, was against a team nearly 30 games under .500 with a bottom-ranked lineup. And yet somehow, the Orioles managed six runs off him in just four innings, while driving up his pitch count to 88 pitches in that span, forcing the Sox to get into their bullpen in the fifth inning. Price mislocated a couple of pitches and paid dearly when both were hit out for homers. Anthony Santander extended to the outer half to drive a fastball out in the first and Keon Broxton hammered a changeup in the fourth. It was an ugly night, and for Price, the timing couldn't have been worse, coming off the renewed feud with Dennis Eckersley just two days earlier.
Sloppy defense no help: From the early going, the Red Sox weren't very sharp in the field behind Price. J.D. Martinez, playing right field, misjudged a fly ball off the wall by Richie Martin. Martinez got too close to the scoreboard in right and when the ball struck the wall, it caromed way past him, back toward shallow right. By the time the lumbering Martinez tracked the ball down, Martin was at third and then Martinez bobbled the ball and was charged with an error, allowing Martin to circle the bases. Later, a poor feed to the wrong side of second base by shortstop Xander Bogaerts cost the Red Sox a double play. Finally, a fielding error at second by Michael Chavis led to the third run of the seventh inning.
Top relievers get a night off: When Price left after the fourth inning, it meant the Sox would have to cover at least 12 -- if not 15 -- outs in relief. First came Colten Brewer, who recorded only one out while allowing two runs on two hits in the fifth. Next came Ryan Weber, and while Weber had a rough seventh inning during which he allowed three runs, he at least gutted it out and got the Sox through the eighth inning, pitching a total of 3.2 innings. It wasn't a game-saving effort on Weber's part since the game was pretty much decided by the time he entered in the fifth inning. But he took one for the team as he mopped up, and at the very least, that allowed Alex Cora to preserve the likes of Matt Barnes, Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree -- the high-leverage options in the Boston bullpen whom they'll need in the coming days.
TURNING POINT
Given how punchless the Red Sox' offense was against Baltimore starter John Means, it was clear from the early going that the Sox couldn't fall too far behind. When Price gave up a two-run homer to Keon Broxton -- the No. 8 hitter who came into the game with a .176 average -- that was, for all intent and purposes, the end of things for the Sox.
ONE UP
Sam Travis: The Red Sox collected only seven hits all night, but the loudest one came off the bat of Travis, who clubbed a two-run homer in the second to, temporarily at least, get the Sox back into the game at 3-2.
ONE DOWN
Rafael Devers: Devers came in as one of the Sox' hottest hitters, but had a rough night at the plate, going hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts. He had five base runners on in his plate appearances and couldn't advance any of them, much less score them.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"I didn't have very good fastball command; didn't have command of anything, really. Just wasn't good enough today.'' David Price
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Bogaerts saw his 10-game hitting streak come to an end with an 0-for-4 night.
- Mookie Betts extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a leadoff single.
- Betts saw his streak of games scoring at least one run come to an end at 13. He could have set a franchise record had he score a run.
- The loss was the first of Price's career at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He had been a perfect 7-0.