Charging Orioles aim to extend home win streak over Red Sox
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The Baltimore Orioles take aim at their sixth consecutive home victory over the Boston Red Sox as the AL East rivals take the field for the third chapter of a four-game set at Camden Yards.
After winning the first two games of the series, the Orioles are just 1 1/2 games behind the Red Sox for first place in the division. Baltimore took a 2-0 win on Friday as Chris Tillman pitched six-plus shutout innings and the bullpen followed with three scoreless frames.
"I thought it was good. Early, I struggled with command a little bit with all my pitches," Tillman said. "I was able to make an adjustment mid-game. Kind of went with (catcher Matt) Wieters from there and started attacking the zone a little."
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First baseman Chris Davis hit a solo home run in the second inning on Friday to mark his MLB-leading 22nd of the year. Manny Machado became the youngest player in franchise history to hit 30 doubles in a season and extended his season-long hitting streak to 12 games for Baltimore.
The Orioles will send Freddy Garcia to the hill on Saturday. Garcia took a winning decision last time out after giving up only two runs over six innings versus the Angels before a rain delay ended his start earlier than anticipated. The right-hander has won three of his past four starts and comes in with a 3-3 record and a 4.47 ERA.
Boston was unsuccessful on Friday despite a decent showing from starter Ryan Dempster, who pitched 7 2/3 innings and allowed just five hits during his time on the mound.
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"Sometimes you just get outpitched. There is really nothing you can do about it," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "We don't get shut out very often. It's kind of a rarity. We'll just bounce back (Saturday)."
On Saturday, the Red Sox will counter with John Lackey, who enters with just a 1-5 record in road starts. The 6-foot-6 veteran starter surrendered four earns runs on 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings in his last start at Tampa Bay on Monday.
Lackey has never before faced Machado, but Davis is 8-for-17 with two doubles and a home run off of him in his career.
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Farrell will need a better performance out of his offense, which leads the MLB in runs with 355. Dustin Pedroia has gone just 1-for-9 at the plate through the first two games of the series. David Ortiz has also fallen into a slump with only one hit in his last 11 at bats.
Jose Iglesias did his best in an attempt to provide a spark on Friday as he went 2-for-4 to improve his batting average to .451 on the season. The second- year third baseman has recorded a multi-hit game in each of his last five starts.
Baltimore is 4-1 against the Red Sox this season after taking 13 of the 18 matchups a year ago.