Early lead vs. Lester evaporates as Sox rally to beat O's

On a night when the Orioles scored more runs vs. Jon Lester than they had in any of his previous 15 starts against them, they still could not beat him. After the Orioles had given up just three runs total during a four-game win streak, Boston stormed back with six in the 7th for a comeback, 9-6 win over the Orioles. Lester entered with a 12-0 record and career 2.00 ERA vs. Baltimore, but the O's scored four in the first off him and led 5-2 after two innings. J.D. Drew's homer off Jake Arrieta in the fifth made it 5-3 and Boston tied it on Marco Scutaro's two-run homer off Mark Hendrickson in the 7th. They went ahead 6-5 on a Victor Martinez RBI double and then made it 9-5 when Adrian Beltre hit a three-run homer off Alfredo Simon in the 7th. Lester, now 13-0 vs. Baltimore, gave up five runs and eight hits over six innings. The most runs the O's had gotten off him before was on August 13, 2006 when he gave up four runs over five innings in his first-ever start against them. Adam Jones, who hit a two-run double in the first inning, left the game for pinch-hitter Jake Fox in the 7th due to upper back soreness. O's starters had pitched to an ERA of 0.89 over the last four games, but tonight, Arrieta gave up three runs over five innings. After scoring the early runs, the O's came up with just one run on four hits after the first inning. They are now 7-7 vs. Boston and 12-38 on the season vs. the AL East. The Orioles, who went 17-11 in August, were denied their first five-game win streak of the year. A win would also have been the 900th of Buck Showalter's managing career. In the series finale Thursday night, it's Brad Bergesen (6-9, 5.55) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-4, 4.19).