Zimmermann surrenders five home runs in lopsided loss (updated)

BOSTON – Bruce Zimmermann spun on the mound again, the sound of the contact telling him where the ball was going to land. He watched anyway. And then he needed to figure out quickly how to eliminate the mistakes and hope the Orioles had more rallies inside of them.

He couldn’t, and they didn’t.

Bobby Dalbec hit a two-run homer in the second inning, and Franchy Cordero drove a slider 448 feet into the center field bleachers before Zimmermann recorded the last out. And a bump turned into a mountain.

Rafael Devers led off the third with a 434-foot shot to right-center, the ball leaving his bat at 110.7 mph, Christian Arroyo and Kiké Hernandez cleared the Green Monster in the fourth, and the Red Sox rolled past the Orioles 12-2 at sun-splashed Fenway Park.

Zimmermann surrendered one home run in his first six starts, but opponents have hit nine in his last two and 12 in his last four.

The five home runs today tied the franchise record also shared by Don Larsen on July 19, 1954, Jim Palmer on June 22, 1977, Mike Mussina on July 1, 1994 and Jeremy Hellickson on Aug. 18, 2017. Larsen and Palmer also were facing the Red Sox.

"Just today, they were on everything he threw," said manager Brandon Hyde. "We just need to flush this one and try to win a series tomorrow. We haven't had many of these and this wasn't our day. Zimm struggled from the start and they were really on everything, and we just need to let this one go and come back tomorrow."

Dalbec, Devers and Arroyo ran the count full, hitting a changeup, 92 mph fastball and changeup, respectively. Cordero demolished a slider, Hernández a sinker.

The Red Sox weren't choosy.

Arroyo’s ball traveled 409 feet with an exit velocity of 106.6 mph.

"There weren't some great pitches in there," Zimmermann said. "Obviously, the team is one of the best teams offensively in baseball right now. I've just got to do a better job.

"I thought I had some good stuff today. The pitches that they got, those were the bad ones. The rest of the time in the at-bats, I thought I was putting together pretty good sequences. But when you miss spots late in counts after they get deep in counts, they see a lot more pitches in those counts and it makes it easier for them to see those off-speed pitches and heaters multiple times in the at-bat and put better swings on them. Just got to do a better job of getting ahead early in counts and putting guys away."

Zimmermann allowed a season-high six runs and eight hits in four innings, with one walk, two strikeouts and a wild pitch. He threw 82 pitches, 52 for strikes.

He needs to push it aside and focus on his next start. Long careers are built on short memories.

"My job is to go out there and get six innings," he said. "I fully intend to make the adjustments I need to make before the next start. The body's feeling good, the arm's bouncing back well. We're having a string of playing these teams that are just offensively dangerous, and I've just got to do a better job getting into games and getting back to having quicker innings and getting more ground balls. Just attacking these guys, but doing a better job of putting them away early, because the deeper they get into counts, these good hitters don't miss those pitches."

Said Hyde: "There were a lot of middle misses, middle down, that they were all over. We need to rewatch and try to figure it out."

Cody Sedlock, the first-round draft pick in 2016, made his major league debut in the fifth and was charged with five runs and six hits in three-plus innings. His first strikeout victim was Trevor Story with a nasty changeup in the fifth after Xander Bogaerts reached on an infield single. Christian Vázquez followed with a run-scoring double.

Arroyo and Cordero struck out while Sedlock was retiring the side in order in the sixth, but Boston loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth and Cordero drove in two more runs with a double.

Marcos Diplán let both inherited runners score and one of his own, as the Red Sox sent 11 batters to the plate and fans began chanting, “Let’s Go Celtics."

"That was huge, making his debut in Fenway," Hyde said. "I really liked his changeup. He kept guys off balance. He probably ran out of gas there. We were trying to stretch him, just because of how many we threw yesterday and thinking about tomorrow at that point. Unfortunately, that inning got away from us. But he gave us three enormous innings and pitched into a fourth inning for us. I thought he did a really good job the first three innings."

Perhaps this is a future role for Sedlock, another reliever who can work in bulk or be a spot starter.

"Yeah, possibly," Hyde said. "I haven't seen him pitch that much. You saw a lot of bad swings on his changeup. That was really his go-to pitch and he got a lot of outs on it. We're looking for guys who can throw length out of the 'pen or start, and I thought he did a good job today."

The Orioles need a starter for Tuesday, but it won’t be Sedlock.

"I didn't feel my sharpest tonight and kind of ran out of gas there at the end, and I'm obviously not happy about that," he said. "I know I can be better than that, I know I will be better than that. Certain pitches, especially with two strikes, you've just got to be better. You can't throw pitches in the heart of the zone with two strikes. Next time out I'll know that. And I know I have a lot to work on."

The bullpen phone rang for Sedlock and he described the moment as "pretty crazy, the heart starts pumping."

"You get hot pretty quick out there," he said. "Then the innings started to slow down a little bit. The best part was jogging out to the mound, for sure. 

"It had to have been a sellout crowd, and it was awesome to go up there and step on the mound and look down and see the hitter. It's awesome."

"That's a highlight of today for sure," Zimmermann said.

Pitching coach Chris Holt came to the mound with one out in the third after Bogaerts doubled and Story drew a seven-pitch walk, a slider sailing over catcher Robinson Chirinos to put runners on the corners.

Vázquez grounded into a double play, the 58^th turned by the Orioles this season to lead the majors.

Zimmermann had allowed four career home runs to left-handed hitters before today. Cordero and Devers bat from the left side.

The Orioles loaded the bases against Nick Pivetta in the third inning and didn’t score.

Jorge Mateo doubled, and Trey Mancini and Anthony Santander drew back-to-back two-out walks. Santander saw seven pitches while walking for the 25^th time this season. Ryan Mountcastle saw one and lined to right field.

Mateo has an extra-base hit in three straight games after collecting none in the previous nine.

Cedric Mullins doubled with two outs in the fifth and scored when Arroyo failed to make a sliding catch on Mancini’s shallow fly ball.

Assistant athletic trainer Patrick Wesley came onto the field to check on Santander after a ground ball ended the inning. Santander stayed in the game.  

Mancini reached base four times with a double, two singles and a walk. He’s batting .298 with a .754 OPS.

The Orioles received some encouraging pitching news today with Dean Kremer tossing four scoreless innings at Triple-A Norfolk to increase his total to nine on his rehab assignment. Kremer allowed one hit, walked one and struck out seven, and he stretched out to 60 pitches.

Notes: Catcher Jacob Nottingham hit his seventh home run for Norfolk. Rylan Bannon had a three-run double and RBI grounder.

Andrew Daschbach hit his sixth home run for Double-A Bowie. Daschbach, Jordan Westburg and Maverick Handley each had three hits and three RBIs.

Antonio Velez tossed five scoreless innings.

Connor Norby and Darell Hernaiz had two hits for high Single-A Aberdeen. Justin Armbruester allowed one run and two hits with six strikeouts.