masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles didn’t wait until the ninth to get some big runs tonight. However, their only home run of the game came from an unlikely source. David Lough hit a three-run homer during the Orioles’ four-run second inning as the Birds went on to beat Boston 6-4 at Fenway Park.
The Orioles won for the sixth time in eight games and the 14th time in the last 18 games to improve to 37-33. They are four games over .500 for the first time this season.
Winners of six in a row over Boston by a combined…

The Orioles didn’t wait until the ninth to get some big runs tonight. However, their only home run of the game came from an unlikely source. David Lough hit a three-run homer during the Orioles’ four-run second inning as the Birds went on to beat Boston 6-4 at Fenway Park.

The Orioles won for the sixth time in eight games and the 14th time in the last 18 games to improve to 37-33. They are four games over .500 for the first time this season.

Winners of six in a row over Boston by a combined score of 41-22, the Orioles are 8-3 this season against the Red Sox. They have won eight of their last 10 at Fenway Park, where they are 22-11 since 2012.

Three straight singles from Chris Davis, Travis Snider and J.J. Hardy loaded the bases off Joe Kelly in the second, and Ryan Flaherty’s sac fly scored the game’s first run.

lough-snider-high-five-gray-fenway-sidebar.jpgLough then turned around a 95 mph Kelly fastball and hit it out to right for a 4-0 lead. It was his fourth homer of the year and third over his last 10 games (24 at-bats). He hit just one homer in his first 40 games.

Leading 4-1 in the fourth, Jimmy Paredes added to the lead with an RBI single with two outs. When batting this year with runners in scoring position and two down, Paredes is 11-for-17 (.647) with a homer and 15 RBIs.

Boston chipped into the O’s lead with singles runs off Ubaldo Jimenez in the fourth and fifth to make it a 5-3 game. But Manny Machado’s RBI double in the sixth made it a 6-3 lead. Machado went 2-for-5 for his fifth straight multi-hit game. During his multi-hit streak, he is 12-for-23 (.522). Over the last 16 games, Machado has 12 multi-hit games and is batting .448 (30-for-67) with six homers and 16 RBIs.

Chris Parmelee went 2-for-4 with a double and triple for the Orioles, who have outscored Boston 61-43 on the season. Paredes and Hardy added two-hit games as the Orioles had 11 hits and went 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Jimenez saw his pitch count escalate in a few innings and went just five for the game, giving up six hits and three runs with three walks and eight strikeouts. He got the win, and is 6-3 with an ERA of 3.40. In five June starts, Jimenez is 3-0 with a 3.90 ERA.

The O’s bullpen, which began the night leading the majors with a 2.04 ERA since April 29, recorded three scoreless innings before Boston pushed a run across in the ninth on Dustin Pedroia’s double. Zach Britton recorded his 20th save in 21 chances.

In the second game of the series on Tuesday night, Bud Norris (2-5, 7.57 ERA) faces right-hander Clay Buchholz (4-6, 3.87 ERA).