Less than 24 hours after being held to one run, the Orioles erupted for six in the first inning and won for the ninth time in 13 games.

Playing beneath a sunny sky, they didn’t break a sweat.

The Orioles defeated the Red Sox 8-2 at Fenway Park and improved to 30-33. They won their 30th game last season on June 15, when they were 10 below .500.

Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello still needs an opener. He began today with an 11.57 ERA in the first inning and the Orioles sent 12 batters to the plate. That ERA grew to 16.88.

The six runs matched the Orioles’ high for an inning this season. They also did it in Kansas City and Cleveland.

Bello shouldn’t get near the Orioles. He faced them on April 24 and surrendered eight runs and 13 hits, including five homers, in 3 1/3 innings. They worked him for 40 pitches today in the first.

On getaway day, the Orioles’ bus ride to the airport looked like it was gonna be delayed until the pace quickened.

Bello retired 10 in a row before Pete Alonso’s leadoff single in the fifth. Alonso scored on Samuel Basallo’s 112.4 mph double to right – the highest exit velocity of his career – and Colton Cowser had a sacrifice fly to stick Bello with eight runs and seven hits in five frames.

Here’s more from home:

*Taylor Ward needed only one pitch to reach base again. He led off with a 402-foot double to center field off Bello and scored after Gunnar Henderson was hit on the foot and Adley Rutschman singled. Leody Taveras had an RBI single with two outs, the Orioles loaded the bases and Coby Mayo cleared them with a double off the Green Monster.

This counted as power from Ward, though he’s stuck on two home runs after hitting 36 last season with the Angels. His double would have been a homer at Camden Yards.

Ward had three hits and a walk Wednesday night and he collected another hit today in the first inning. His quick ambush of Bello was unusual, considering that he saw 1,216 total pitches this season before today, second most in the majors behind the Nationals’ James Wood (1,241).

The second at-bat lasted five pitches.

Ward is the first Oriole with two hits in the first inning since Rutschman on July 30, 2023 against the Yankees, and the first to do it on the road since Jerry Hairston Jr. on Sept. 24, 2003 in Boston.

Jovani Morán replaced Bello in the sixth and Ward singled again for another three-hit day.

*Mayo is earning more playing time, as evidenced by his inclusion in the lineup against a right-hander. He’s just got to stay healthy.

A foul ball in the third inning drilled Mayo just below the left knee, and above the guard he was wearing. Head athletic trainer Scott Barringer checked on him.

Not only did Mayo stay in the game, he made a diving stop to rob Caleb Durbin on the first pitch thrown by Trevor Rogers after the incident. The liner was clocked at 97.3 mph.

Mayo began the day slashing .300/.352/.680 against left-handers, but .152/.234/.222 versus right-handers. Manager Craig Albernaz could have started Blaze Alexander at third, but he went with Mayo, who rewarded him by barreling an 0-2 sweeper.

The first two sweepers were called strikes to put Mayo in a hole. Bello tried again and Mayo acted like he knew what was coming.

The double made Mayo 15-for-49 (.306) in his last 16 games.

*I’ve stated that Kyle Bradish is back. What about Rogers?

Rogers carried a shutout into the seventh inning in his previous start against the Blue Jays before surrendering a pair of two-run homers. He retired the first 11 batters today and didn’t surrender a hit until Andruw Monasterio’s one-out double to center field in the fifth.

Mayo’s diving catch gets an asterisk in the scorebook.

Rogers gave up three straight singles with two outs in the sixth and came out of the game after a lengthy conversation with Albernaz. Two of his five hits were of the infield variety, and another was a ground ball through the right side.

Willson Contreras led off the ninth inning with a home run off Andrew Kittredge to account for the final margin. Kittredge had five scoreless appearances in a row before today and opponents were 1-for-14.

*Albernaz told the assembled media this morning that Chris Bassitt flew back to Baltimore to have his lower back examined by team doctors.

Bassitt came out of last night’s game after allowing three runs in three innings. The tightness in his back became evident in the third.

“We’ll hear more maybe tomorrow or this evening depending on how it goes,” Albernaz told the media.

Bassitt’s next turn in the rotation is Monday night against the Mariners to start the homestand.

*The Orioles made a roster move about 30 minutes before first pitch, acquiring right-hander Kyle Nicolas from the Reds for cash considerations and optioning him to Triple-A Norfolk. Right-hander Eduarneil Núñez was designated for assignment to create room on the 40-man roster.

The Marlins drafted Nicolas, 27, in the second round in 2020 out of Ball State University and traded him a year later to the Pirates in a deal involving Jacob Stallings, who caught for the Orioles last season. The Pirates dealt Nicolas to the Reds on March 4 for Tyler Callihan.

Nicolas has registered a 4.96 ERA in 93 major league relief appearances. He got into seven games with the Reds this season and allowed seven runs and eight hits with 13 walks and seven strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings.

Nicolas made two appearances for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic.

Núñez came to the Orioles in a cash trade with the Athletics on May 15 and allowed seven earned runs (nine total) and seven hits with eight walks in four innings with Norfolk.