The Boston Red Sox completed a four-game sweep at Camden Yards and beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 Sunday as Eli White's three-run home run off Kyle Bradish in the second inning erased an early deficit and gave Boston a lead it never relinquished.
The loss was Baltimore's sixth in a row drops Baltimore to 69-75, now four games back of the final AL wild-card spot with the postseason window closing fast. They had moved to .500 for the first time since April just on Monday, but lost the final two games of a series to lowly Colorado before getting swept at home.
“Of all the blows we’ve taken this year, this is by far the biggest just because where we’re at in the season, where we’re at in the standings with the wild card," Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said.
Baltimore struck first on Sunday when Christian Encarnación-Strand's ground-rule double in the first inning scored Coby Mayo to put the Orioles up 1-0. White answered in the second, sending a hanging slider from Bradish to left-center that scored Caleb Durbin and Andruw Monasterio alongside him, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 Boston lead. That was all the scoring either team managed through the final seven innings.
White's long ball came after a Gunnar Henderson error that made it a three-run homer. “Didn’t attack the ball," Henderson said. "Kind of let it play me.”
Tolle was the story on the mound, going six innings and striking out 12 while allowing just the one early run.
“He got ahead with his heater," Henderson said, "then he was able to located his off-speed. He was attacking and made pitches.”
White finished 2-for-4 with all three of Boston's RBI. Bradish took the loss after four innings. Aroldis Chapman closed it out for his save.
For Baltimore, Encarnación-Strand went 1-for-4 with his RBI double, and Pete Alonso was 2-for-4, while the Orioles' bullpen — Anthony Nunez, Luis De León, Grant Wolfram, and Cam Sanders — combined for five scoreless innings after Bradish's exit.
Robert goes on the IL quick
Before the game, the Orioles put recently acquired Luis Robert Jr. on the 10-day IL with a low-grade hamstring strain, Albernaz said.