Baltimore, MD – Mark Reynolds hit a pair of homers, Wei-Yin Chen was solid over six-plus innings on the mound and the Baltimore Orioles took down the Boston Red Sox, 7-1, in the opener of a three-game series.
Omar Quintanilla hit a solo homer for the Orioles, who have won eight of their last 10 games. Matt Wieters and Chris Davis added an RBI apiece.
Chen (11-7) gave up one run on nine hits while striking out four.
Carl Crawford knocked in the lone run for the Red Sox, who have lost five of seven.
Josh Beckett (5-10) struggled on the mound again, allowing six runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings. He has just one win over his last 12 starts.
Holding a 2-1 lead, the Orioles exploded for five runs in the sixth to gain some breathing room. J.J. Hardy singled and Adam Jones walked before a wild pitch moved the runners up a base. Matt Wieters followed with an RBI infield single that bounced over Beckett's head. Chris Davis knocked in a run with a single up the middle, chasing Beckett from the game. Mark Melancon came in from the bullpen and gave up a three-run homer to Reynolds, making it a 7-1 contest.
"Hopefully tonight will be kind of a springboard for me," Reynolds said.
Boston had a chance to get back in the game in the seventh by loading the bases with one out. But Darren O'Day struck out Cody Ross and Ryan Lavarnway to end the threat.
J.C. Romero, acquired from the Cleveland Indians on Monday, tossed a scoreless eighth and Matt Lindstrom pitched a perfect ninth to secure the victory.
Quintanilla's homer in the third gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead.
"He's hitting ninth, but leading off that inning. I'm thinking he's taking, so I was trying to lay one in there," Beckett said. "He kind of ambushed me."
But the Red Sox got the run back in the fourth after Ross hit a ground-rule doubled and raced home on Crawford's single.
Reynolds' solo homer in the fifth gave Baltimore a 2-1 edge.
Game Notes
The Orioles are 7-3 against the Red Sox this season ... It was the 15th career multi-homer game for Reynolds ... Beckett has lost his last four starts to the O's and is 7-7 lifetime against them in 20 starts ... Orioles third baseman Manny Machado went 0-for-3 after recording at least one extra-base hit in each of his first four major league games ... The Red Sox activated pitcher Andrew Bailey from the 60-day disabled list on Tuesday ... The Orioles selected the contract of Romero from Triple-A Norfolk, designated pitcher Miguel Socolovich for assignment, recalled pitcher Steve Johnson from Norfolk and placed pitcher Troy Patton on the 15-day disabled list.
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