All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Orioles, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Move to lift Perez early backfires: Martin Perez had what was probably his best start of the season, limiting the Orioles to a single run over five innings, allowing just four hits and a walk with four strikeouts over the first five innings. With Perez at just 74 pitches after five, it seemed logical that he would come back out for at least one more inning. Instead, the Red Sox opted to go to the bullpen. The decision proved costly almost immediately when Matt Andriese, on his fourth pitch, hung a curveball to Trey Mancini, who belted it over the center field fence to snap a 1-1 tie. "We were set up with Andriese with all those righties and I felt that (five innings by Perez) was good enough today,'' Cora said. "Against Detroit, we left (Perez) in against a righty (JaCoby Jones, who doubled) and we got burned. Today, we felt like five innings was perfect.''
Bats quieted: The Sox had one of their weaker offensive games of the season, with just four hits -- their lowest total since the second game of the season. The lone run they scored was on a sacrifice fly and they were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The best opportunity came in the fifth when Hunter Renfroe doubled to the wall in right to leadoff and took third on a groundout to the right side. But Bobby Dalbec fanned after getting ahead 3-and-0 and so did Marwin Gonzalez. Cora gave credit to Baltimore starter Jorge Lopez, who allowed one run on 5.2 innings. "He was amazing,'' said Cora. But things didn't get any better after he left, and the Red Sox didn't have a single baserunner against four different relievers over the final 3.1 innings. It sure didn't look like the same lineup that had averaged slightly more than eight runs over the previous six games.
TURNING POINT
A bizarre play to start the eighth inning helped open the door for two runs for the Orioles. Cedric Mullins popped up a pitch that would, under normal circumstances, have been a routine play for shortstop Xander Bogaerts. But with the Sox shifted around on the left-handed hitting Mullins, Bogaerts had to race over from the other side of the second base bag. He almost caught up with the pop-up, snagging it with the end of his glove. The ball then was bounced up in the air, but Bogaerts, his momentum carrying him, couldn't corral it and the ball fell near the left field line. Mullins, racing from halfway up the first base line, turned on the jets as he rounded first and, noting that Rafael Devers had followed Bogaerts out into the outfield to retrieve the ball, bolted for third. Catcher Christian Vazquez raced to third to take a throw from Devers in left, but Mullins, diving headfirst, beat the throw. A walk, a single and a sacrifice fly later, the Orioles had two huge insurance runs.
ONE UP
J.D. Martinez: On a night in which the Boston offense was virtually non-existent, Martinez had half of the team's four hits with singles in the first and fourth innings.
TWO DOWN
Franchy Cordero: Some were hoping that his three-hit game last Thursday against Detroit would represent the start of something at the plate, but it hasn't happened. Cordero was 0-for-3 Monday night and 0-for-10 for the series.
Rafael Devers: Though Devers did produce the only run of the night on a sacrifice fly, he fanned three other times, including in the sixth, with a runner on third base.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"We didn't have much too much today to offer.'' Alex Cora, on his team being held to just four hits.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- The win by the Orioles represented the first time in 10 meetings between the teams this season in which the home team won.
- Marwin Gonzalez saw his seven-game hitting streak come to an end.
- The Red Sox allowed two solo homers, but remain the only team in the majors to not allow three homers in a game.
- For the 14th time in the last 15 games, the Red Sox got at least five innings from their starting pitcher.