Orioles send Red Sox to 8th loss in last 9 at home

BOSTON – After a 6-1 road trip the Boston Red Sox have sputtered to a 1-3 homecoming.

The Red Sox lost for the eighth time in their last nine home games with a 6-4 setback in 13 innings against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night. Boston took three different leads but failed to hang on to any of them and was shut after the sixth inning in a game that lasted 4 hours and 37 minutes.

"Everyone wants to play well at home, but we haven't," second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. "We've got to figure out how to do that."

Chris Davis drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the top of the 13th and Mark Reynolds, who hit his first homer of the season in the third, added a sacrifice fly before Jim Johnson put Boston down in order to end it.

Troy Patton (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings and Johnson picked up his eighth save.

"We just couldn't find a way to score a run there when we needed to," Pedroia said. "It's tough."

Franklin Morales (0-1) allowed two hits in 2-3 of an inning for Boston.

Matt Wieters hit a one-out single off Morales in the top of the 13th and Wilson Betemit walked before Davis singled to right. Boston manager Bobby Valentine then brought in reliever Scott Atchison, who allowed Reynolds' sac fly to center.

Baltimore has won nine of its last 11 and extended Boston's overall losing streak to three.

Adrian Gonzalez had three hits for the Red Sox.

Boston had a chance to pull ahead in the bottom of the eighth when David Ortiz led off with a walk, but he got caught going too far on a line drive by Cody Ross. Shortstop J.J. Hardy made a diving grab then from his knees threw a strike to first to double up Ortiz.

"I would say that was a very big play in the game," Boston manager Bobby Valentine said. "That looked like it was by him when he caught it. David was kind of holding up."

Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen was pulled after reaching 100 pitches in just five innings.

Boston's Jon Lester lasted only slightly longer, going six innings before Vicente Padilla started the seventh with the Red Sox holding a 4-3 lead. That ended quickly when Baltimore loaded the bases with nobody out. Hardy grounded into a double play, allowing Reynolds to score — snapping a streak of 11 straight scoreless innings by Boston relievers over the last three games.

Will Middlebrooks, playing in just his second major league game, hustled for a double to lead off the fifth and scored on Pedroia's single for a 4-3 Boston lead.

The Orioles had three errors before the second inning was over, then a passed ball by catcher Ronny Paulino allowed Ross to score and put Boston up 1-0.

Reynolds snapped an 0-for-13 skid with a leadoff homer over the Green Monster in the third to tie it 1-all, then Boston took the lead right back with a pair of runs in the third.

NOTES: RHP Aaron Cook, signed by Boston as a free agent in January, is scheduled to make his Red Sox debut Saturday after going 3-0 for Triple-A Pawtucket. Cook will start in place of Josh Beckett, who has had some stiffness after his last two starts. ... Reynolds' homer in the third was his first of the season. He went without a home run in April for the first time in his career. ... Ross lost his grip while striking out in the fifth and the bat sailed high over Baltimore's dugout and — fortunately — landed in an aisle without hitting anybody. ... Lester was 14-0 with a 2.36 ERA in 18 career starts against Baltimore entering the game. ... Boston RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka was scheduled to make his third rehab start Friday night for Triple-A Pawtucket, but has a problem with his neck. He is tentatively scheduled to start Monday against Rochester. ... The Orioles placed OF Nolan Reimold on the 15-day disabled list with a herniated disc and recalled C Luis Exposito from Triple-A Norfolk. ... Joe Torre, MLB's executive vice president for baseball operations, changed an official scorer's decision and gave Nick Johnson an additional double in Tuesday night's game against the Yankees. Torre took an error away from left fielder Eduardo Nunez, who allowed the ball to fall. That made both runs earned off Boone Logan.