FINAL: Orioles 13, Red Sox 12 - Sale and bullpen blasted as Sox rally falls short

WHO: Orioles (89-51) at Red Sox (72-69)
WHEN: 4:10 p.m. 
WHERE: Fenway Park, Boston. 
SERIES TO DATE: Baltimore leads, 4-3. 
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Jack Flaherty (8-8, 4.84 ERA) vs. LHP Chris Sale (6-3, 4.46 ERA)
TV/RADIO: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUP

RED SOX

Verdugo RF
Devers 3B 
Turner DH 
Casas 1B
Yoshida LF 
Story SS
Abreu CF 
Valdez 2B
Wong C
Sale SP

ORIOLES 

Rutschman DH
Mountcastle 1B 
Santander RF
Hays LF 
Hicks CF 
O'Hearn DH 
Henderson 3B 
Westburg 2B 
McCann C
Mateo SS 
Flaherty SP 

PRE-GAME NOTES 

OF Wilyer Abreu will start in center field over Adam Duvall, Enmanuel Valdez starts again at second base while IF/OF prospect Ceddanne Rafaela continues to sit since his September call-up. He could return to Triple-A Worcester when the Sox activate Pablo Reyes from his rehab stint, which began with a 1-3 performance batting second last night. 

“I think last year, we were ‘out, out.’ This year, we’re still kind of like, in the hunt," Alex Cora said pre-game. "It doesn’t look great but we’ve still got games against Toronto, we’ve still got games against Texas. You know, we get in a hot streak here, those games might mean something. So right now, this is where we’re at. They're good players. Like I've been saying the whole week, we'll find matchups that they're gonna contribute, and he'll play short whenever he has to play short. But as of right now, this is where we're at.”

The Red Sox today optioned RHP Brandon Walter to Triple-A Worcester and recalled RHP Zack Weiss. 

WHAT'S UP 

The Red Sox have lost each of their last 3 games after winning each of their previous 3...They’re 9-11 in their last 20 G and 15-15 in their last 30...At 72-69 (.511), Boston owns MLB’s 15th-best record...The Sox will wear their Nike City Connect Series uniforms today...They’re 26-6 overall when wearing them, including 11-2 in 2023...They’ve outscored opponents 163-100 in the jerseys...The Red Sox last night began a 7-game homestand vs. BAL (3 games) and NYY (4)...The Sox are 6-11 in 17 home games since the start of August, after going 13-5 in their previous 18...At home, the Red Sox lead the majors in AVG (.281)...They also rank 3rd in OBP (.346) and 4th in SLG (.460) and OPS (.806)...The Red Sox lead MLB in doubles (306)...Among AL teams, they rank 2nd in AVG (.262) and XBH (490), 4th in SLG (.436) and OPS (.764), and 5th in OBP (.328)...Three Red Sox players rank in the AL’s top 15 in OPS, tied with TB for the most on any team...They also have 3 representatives in the AL’s top 15 in AVG and OBP...Pablo Reyes began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester last night at Gwinnett, starting at 2nd base and going 1-for-3 with a run scored...Corey Kluber will begin his rehab assignment with the WooSox tonight, starting at Gwinnett at 6:05 p.m...LHP Chris Sale earned his 6th win of the season on Sunday at KC...Held KC to 2 hits with 5 SO over 5.0 scoreless innings (2 BB)...The Sox are 11-5 in his starts (6-2 in last 8)...In 5 starts since returning from the IL on 8/11, owns a 4.18 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and .205 opponent AVG (23.2 IP, 11 ER, 18 H, 30 SO, 8 BB)...Allowed 13 hits in his last 2 starts (9.2 IP), after giving up 3 hits in his previous 2 (9.0 IP)...Has allowed only 6 HR over his last 13 starts (5 solo, 1 two-run)...In 25 outings vs. the Orioles (19 starts), is 10-4 with a 3.46 ERA (44 ER/114.1 IP)...Opponents are hitting .175 AVG (20-for-114, 13 XBH) with 59 SO against his slider...