Gunnar Henderson’s grand slam in the second inning gave Baltimore the lead, and Corbin Burnes pitched well for seven innings to help the Orioles defeat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Wednesday night.
The Orioles have been performing strongly lately, winning six of their last seven games. They haven’t lost any of their last 18 series against teams from the AL East, with 13 wins and 5 ties. Despite losing two of three games earlier in the series against Boston, they managed to score five runs in the second inning of the final game.
“We’re doing well,” Burnes commented. “We still have a long way to go. Although we’re currently playing good baseball, the most important thing is to stay healthy and maintain this level of play when we enter October. Winning all these games now is great, but our focus is on being prepared for September and October.”
Burnes (5-2) only allowed one unearned run and three hits throughout his seven innings on the mound. He struck out five batters and walked three.
On the other hand, Kutter Crawford (2-4) struggled, giving up five runs in six innings, just five days after allowing six runs against Milwaukee.
Ramón Urías also contributed to Baltimore’s victory with a solo home run in the seventh inning.
With Adley Rutschman and Jordan Westburg resting for the day, the bottom five batters in the Orioles’ lineup had only one player batting over .203 at the start of the game. However, these players played key roles in the team’s big inning.
Anthony Santander singled to put runners on first and second, and Urías hit an RBI single to tie the game at 1-1. Then, James McCann, batting ninth, drew a walk to load the bases. Henderson followed with a powerful hit to right field, securing his 18th home run of the season and tying Kyle Tucker of the Houston Astros for the major league lead.
