Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - The Baltimore Orioles built a big lead early and held on to post a 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox on an emotionally charged Patriots' Day at Fenway Park.
Last year, the holiday was marred by a pair of bombs going off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
The Red Sox, who held an impassioned ceremony dedicated to those impacted by the tragedy prior to Sunday night's game, nearly erased a sizeable deficit for the second straight day.
However, Baltimore, powered by a six-run third inning, was able to salvage a split of this four-game set.
"They always push, they always battle and we expect that from them," said Orioles first baseman Chris Davis about the Red Sox. "I was just proud of the way we hung in there and got the (win)."
Boston, which fought back from being down 5-0 on Sunday, got three runs off Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen (3-1) in the fifth and continued to chip away against the Baltimore bullpen.
David Ross and Mike Napoli sandwiched solo home runs in the seventh and eighth innings around a Ryan Flaherty RBI single to close the gap to 7-5, and the Red Sox had the bases loaded in the ninth.
Brock Holt hit a one-out single, Dustin Pedroia doubled high off the Green Monster and David Ortiz drew an intentional walk from closer Tommy Hunter. Holt was credited with an infield hit despite a wide throw by second baseman Steve Lombardozzi.
Napoli, who delivered the winning hit in the ninth a year ago on Patriots' Day, then plated a run with a groundout before Mike Carp grounded out to first, giving Hunter his fifth save of the season.
"We did a great job of coming back, but the six-run deficit in that third inning proved the difference," said Red Sox manager John Farrell.
The Orioles chased Boston starter Clay Buchholz (0-2) with a flurry of hits during their highly productive inning.
Buchholz surrendered five consecutive singles to Lombardozzi, David Lough, Nick Markakis, Nelson Cruz and Davis -- the latter three each producing a run -- before recording an out in the third. A fourth run came home when Adam Jones grounded into a fielder's choice. Steve Clevenger followed with an RBI double and scored on Jonathan Schoop's single to make it 6-0.
Burke Badenhop relieved Buchholz, who didn't allow a hit over the first two innings, and induced the first of his three consecutive inning-ending double plays.
The Red Sox broke through against Chen in the fifth. For the second straight frame, they had their first two men reach base. Xander Bogaerts, who was caught between second and third on a baserunning mistake to end the eighth, walked and Daniel Nava followed with an infield single.
Jackie Bradley, Jr. put Boston on the board with a ground-rule double, Holt lofted a sacrifice fly and Pedroia ripped a run-scoring double down the left- field line.
Game Notes
Davis was 1-for-2 with an RBI and two walks. He has reached base safely in 17 straight games, tying a career high ... Nine of Cruz's 13 RBI this season have come against Boston ... Chen gave up four hits, walked three and struck out five in his five innings of work ... Buchholz entered play with a 4-1 record and a 1.74 ERA in his career at Fenway against the Orioles ... Boston was 2- for-10 with runners in scoring position.
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