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Orioles hope to Cruz by Red Sox at Fenway Park

Sep 8, 2014 - 2:56 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Baltimore Orioles took a chance on Nelson Cruz this season and it could pay off with the club's first division title since 1997.

Cruz, the major league's leader in home runs, leads the O's into Fenway Park on Monday night in the opener of a three-game set with the Boston Red Sox.

Cruz was one of the top free agent bats on the market this past offseason, but struggled to find a home. The fact that any team signing Cruz would have to give up a draft pick, as well as his 50-game suspension last season for his involvement in the Biogenesis PED scandal, scared off some potential suitors before the Orioles inked him to a one-year $8 million deal.

It has certainly paid off as Cruz has belted 39 homers this season and is second in the American League with 101 RBI. His tear has helped Baltimore build a 9 1/2-game lead atop the AL East and the club's magic number to win the division is down to 12.

Cruz drove in all seven runs in his team's 7-5 victory over Tampa Bay on Sunday. He homered twice among his four hits, including the game-winning longball in the 11th inning.

"It was great," said Cruz. "It wasn't pretty but you know we're a pretty good team, so we get it done. We get a win."

Baltimore snapped its five-game road losing streak that marked the longest since a seven-game slide in July 2011.

Looking to inch Baltimore closer to the playoffs tonight is right-hander Miguel Gonzalez, who has won consecutive starts and is coming off the first shutout and complete game of his career.

Gonzalez twirled a four-hitter versus Cincinnati on Wednesday, also walking one batter and striking out eight as he fired 83 of his 117 pitches for strikes.

"(Miguel) is such a team guy, he's such a professional. That was a professional outing," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He had a lot of things working for him tonight."

The 30-year-old is 8-7 this season with a 3.38 earned run average and 3-0 lifetime against Boston with a 2.61 ERA in six meetings with four starts.

Joe Kelly will counter for the Red Sox having finally won his first game with the club since being acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals.

The 26-year-old righty had seen Boston lose each of his previous three starts before he won a 9-4 decision over the New York Yankees on Tuesday. Kelly allowed three runs on five hits and four walks over 6 2/3 innings, fanning six.

Kelly is now 1-1 with a 3.89 ERA in seven starts with the Red Sox and will face the Orioles for the first time.

Boston was denied a three-game sweep of Toronto over the weekend with a 3-1 loss in Sunday's finale.

Xander Bogaerts had two hits and drove in the lone Red Sox run, while Rubby De La Rosa lasted just four-plus frames. He yielded two walks and seven hits, including a three-run homer to Jose Bautista in the fifth inning.

"Yeah, I just missed that pitch," said De La Rosa. "I tried to throw it away."

The Orioles have won five of their last seven versus the Red Sox and lead the season series 7-6.