Rutschman hits 2 homers, Red Sox beat Orioles 6-5
Adley Rutschman hit 2 home runs in his first game back at Camden Yards since being traded, and Nick Sogard's eighth-inning shot lifted the Red Sox past the Orioles 6-5.
Sogard's eighth-inning homer decides it
The Red Sox beat the Orioles 6-5 at Camden Yards without Ceddanne Rafaela, who was out of the lineup with a quad issue, Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reported. Roman Anthony went 1-for-4 with a homer and an RBI, and Jake Bennett worked into the sixth, allowing 3 earned runs on 5 hits with 7 strikeouts and no walks. Adley Rutschman did the rest of the damage, going 2-for-4 with 2 home runs and 2 RBIs.
Orioles6-5Boston trailed for most of the night before Isiah Kiner-Falefa's opposite-field single tied it, per Ian Browne, and Nick Sogard broke it open with his second homer of the night, a 2-run shot that gave the Red Sox their first lead since the first inning. Sogard finished 1-for-3 with a homer and 2 RBIs.
Rutschman's return to Camden Yards
Rutschman's night carried extra weight: it was his first game back in Baltimore since being traded away from the Orioles a month earlier, and he answered it with 2 home runs off his old club. Barstool Sports marked the return with 'Welcome Back to Baltimore Adley Rutschman,' and Barstool Bush covered the night's biggest swing in 'Adley Rutschman Hits Two Homers In First Game Back At Camden Yards.'
The Orioles crowd gave him a standing ovation before the first pitch, per TalkinBaseball_, and by the eighth inning it was Sogard, not Rutschman, delivering the last word — Barstool's Ryan Whitney called it 'a complete bomb' as Boston shut the door.
Upcoming
The Red Sox are in Baltimore tonight, with Ranger Suarez taking the ball against Shane Baz. Suarez is 5-4 with a 3.64 ERA but was rocked in his last start, allowing 6 earned runs on 9 hits over 5.1 innings against the Yankees. Baz enters at 5-14 with a 4.01 ERA, though he was sharper in his last outing, working 5.2 innings and allowing just 2 earned runs against the Athletics.
Boston is favored to take the second game of the series, and the market expects a middling total, suggesting neither shaky Baz nor the erratic Suarez is trusted to keep the scoring down on his own. With the Red Sox holding a 5.5-game cushion in the AL Wild Card race and an elimination number of 15, another win in Baltimore would tighten that number further before the Yankees series looms.