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Red Sox top Orioles in opener

May 22, 2012 - 4:34 AM Baltimore, MD (Sports Network) - Rookie Will Middlebrooks recorded his second three-hit game and knocked in a run as the Boston Red Sox topped the Baltimore Orioles, 8-6, in the opener of a three-game set Monday.

Daniel Nava and Mike Aviles both tallied two hits, an RBI and a run scored, while David Ortiz launched a solo homer for the Red Sox, who have won three straight.

Andrew Miller (1-0) celebrated his 27th birthday with a victory after tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of starter Clay Buchholz, who allowed five runs on six hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings.

Alfredo Aceves retired the O's in order in the ninth for his 10th save of the season.

Kevin Gregg (2-2) took the loss for giving up two runs on three hits and a walk in the top of the seventh. Chris Davis belted a solo shot in defeat as the O's dropped their second straight.

"The way the ball was coming out and the location of the pitches, they were good pitches," said Gregg. "Sometimes you give up hits on pitches that you're happy with."

With the game knotted at 5-5 in the seventh, Aviles singled with one out and Dustin Pedroia followed with a double into right before Gregg intentionally walked Ortiz.

Adrian Gonzalez then broke the scoreless tie with a sac fly to left before Middlebrooks' single to center gave Boston a 7-5 lead.

Miller then retired the O's in order in the seventh before the Sox added some insurance in the eighth.

Che-Hsuan Lin singled with two outs and Aviles reached first as Troy Patton's third strike was wild, allowing Aviles to scamper to first.

Pedroia then lifted a single into left field to score Lin but Baltimore answered in the bottom half on Matt Wieters' RBI single to pull within 8-6.

Earlier in the game, Nava singled to start the third and Marlon Byrd followed with ground-rule double that hopped into the seats in left-center field.

"We're going to play hard every night," remarked Pedroia. "We've won a lot of games here lately. We've been playing good ball as of late, we just have to keep it going."

Aviles lined a single back up the middle to score Nava and Pedroia plated Byrd with a sac fly to right as the Red Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead.

Baltimore responded in the bottom half as Wilson Betemit stroked a leadoff single, Nick Johnson coaxed a walk and Robert Andino loaded the bases with a bunt single down the third-base line.

A walk to Xavier Avery scored Betemit before J.J. Hardy legged out an infield single behind the bag at second to pull the O's even.

Nick Markakis then walked to give Baltimore a 3-2 lead and Adam Jones' double- play groundout made it a two-run difference.

Davis extended the lead to 5-2 with his homer in the fourth but the visitors battled back in the sixth as Ortiz launched a leadoff blast deep to right.

Gonzalez then doubled and Middlebrooks followed with a single before a groundout from Jarrod Saltalamacchia moved both runners up and Nava lifted a sac fly to center to score Gonzalez.

Middlebrooks then crossed home as Tommy Hunter was called for a balk to knot the game at 5-5.

Game Notes

The Red Sox were swept in three games at home by the Orioles on May 4-6...The Boston Red Sox announced on Monday that outfielder Cody Ross is out indefinitely with a small fracture in his left foot...Lin's single in the eighth was his first major league hit...Jones extended his hit-streak to 13 games with a single in the eighth.