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Jones, Britton lift O's over Red Sox

Apr 27, 2011 - 4:34 AM Baltimore, MD (Sports Network) - Adam Jones hit two of Baltimore's three sacrifice flies, and Zach Britton threw six solid innings to help the Orioles top the Red Sox, 4-1, in the opener of a three-game series.

Britton, who allowed one run on five hits and two walks, set a Baltimore record by improving to 4-1. He is the only Orioles rookie starter to total four wins in April.

Matt Wieters went 2-for-4 with a run batted in for the Orioles, who snapped a three-game slide. Vladimir Guerrero added three hits.

Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz (1-3) took the loss. He gave up 12 hits and walked two in 6 2/3 innings, but managed to limit Baltimore to four runs.

"It's just a lot of stress whenever you're out there throwing with a runner on first, second or third base every inning," Buchholz said.

Kevin Youkilis hit a sacrifice fly for Boston, which had won its last five.

The Orioles created rally opportunities by putting multiple runners on base in the early innings.

In the second, they had runners on second and third after Luke Scott led off with a single and Mark Reynolds doubled with one away. Wieters followed with a soft grounder that hit the first base bag, allowing Scott to cross the plate.

But Baltimore stranded the two remaining runners and did the same thing in the third. After loading the bases with one away, Jones hit a sacrifice fly to right before Reynolds grounded out.

Jones' second sacrifice fly came in the fifth, when the Orioles stranded one. Reynolds hit one with the bases loaded in the seventh, when they left two more on base. They stranded 11 runners in all.

But while the Orioles didn't take full advantage of their scoring chances, Britton's pitching allowed them to win.

He allowed just one baserunner through the first three innings and gave up his only run allowed in the fourth. Dustin Pedroia opened the inning with a single, moved to second on a groundout, stole third, then scored on Youkilis' fly ball to center.

Boston's best chance to score multiple runs came in the fifth, when it had the bases loaded with two away. But Britton got Adrian Gonzalez to ground into a fielder's choice, ending the threat.

The Red Sox then had two on with two outs in the sixth before Britton induced a fly out from Carl Crawford.

"I really don't get that nervous out there, I don't know what it is," Britton said. "It's not like I have a huge ego or anything ... I have a lot of confidence I can get out of those jams. If I'm out there getting all worried, I think those situations blow up."

The Orioles' bullpen took over from there. Jim Johnson gave up one hit in two scoreless innings, and Kevin Gregg worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.

Game Notes

The teams split 18 games last season...Derrek Lee went 2-for-5 and scored twice for Baltimore...The Red Sox went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight.