Red Sox 7 - 5 Orioles
Final
  for this game

Red Sox, O's square off for second time in a week

Apr 24, 2015 - 1:19 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles are set to kick off their second series in a week on Friday night, this time in Camden Yards as they play the first of three games.

These teams split a four-game series in Boston last weekend. In fact, Friday's pitching matchup is a rematch of last Sunday's game at Fenway Park between Rick Porcello and Miguel Gonzalez.

Gonzalez emerged victorious in that one as Baltimore won, 8-3. The right- hander struck out five and walked four in five innings, allowing three runs on five hits. He owns a 2.55 ERA and enters this outing seeking a third straight win since suffering a loss in Tampa in his season debut.

However, Baltimore's starting pitchers have not been able to complete six innings in a span of nine straight games.

"Guys are frustrated. And I'm frustrated for them, not with them," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of his starters failing to pitch deep.

Similarly, it has not been a smooth April for Boston's Rick Porcello, who is 1-2 with a 6.63 ERA for his new team after spending the previous six seasons as a fixture in Detroit's rotation. The righty got shelled by these same Orioles Sunday in Boston, allowing eight runs on 12 hits over five innings.

Following their recent head-to-head series with Baltimore, the Red Sox traveled to Tampa this week and dropped two of three to the Rays. They managed only one run in two of those games.

In Thursday's 2-1 loss, Boston's lineup was limited to three hits in 6 2/3 innings against Rays starter Jake Odorizzi. A trio of relievers then came on and held the Red Sox hitless the rest of the way. Tampa Bay's Rene Rivera lined a walk-off single off Anthony Varvaro in the ninth to end it.

Boston wasted six quality innings from Clay Buchholz, who yielded just one run on two hits and struck out 10.

"Best I've felt all year," he said. "I felt that way warming up. Getting here (Thursday), I felt really good. My mind set was to build off the last time out. I just about had all of my pitches working the way I wanted to."

The Orioles were also in action on Thursday as they suffered a 7-6 setback to the Blue Jays up in Toronto. They lost all three games of that series and have dropped four in a row overall.

Thursday's series finale looked well over when Toronto went up 7-0 after five innings. However, Baltimore hung around and made it a 7-6 game with four runs in the ninth inning when Manny Machado homered for the second time in the game. But the O's rally would fall just short as Toronto prevailed.






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