Adley Rutschman homered twice against his former team and then scored on Nick Sogard’s go-ahead two-run blast as the visiting Boston Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 on Thursday night to begin a four-game series.
Sogard’s fourth homer of the year broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning. Roman Anthony added a solo shot with two outs in the ninth which proved critical when Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth for Baltimore.
Rutschman missed the prior three games with a lingering elbow injury but he looked fine in his return to Baltimore, where he was the only Red Sox player with more than one hit.
Erik Miller (4-0) picked up the win with one shutout inning in relief after Boston starter Jake Bennett gave up three runs on five hits across six innings.
Luis Robert Jr. and Pete Alonso smashed back-to-back home runs to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning for the Orioles (69-72). Aroldis Chapman was credited with his 31st save despite giving up the homer to Encarnacion-Strand.
Baltimore starter Brandon Young pitched 6 2/3 innings and was charged with three runs on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Luis De Leon (0-2) took the loss, though Yennier Cano surrendered Sogard’s homer.
Rutschman’s blasts in the first and sixth innings are his second and third homers since joining the Red Sox (76-65) in a trade from the Orioles on Aug. 3.
Rutschman, who was the first overall selection by the Orioles in the 2019 MLB Draft, had Boston’s only two hits until Eli White’s two-out double in the seventh inning. Isiah Kiner-Falefa followed with a game-tying RBI single.
Anthony’s third homer came in the 35th game of his injury-interrupted season.
Both teams scored in the first inning, with Rutschman’s homer the first blow with two outs. The Orioles responded to tie the game when Blaze Alexander scored on Alonso’s sacrifice fly.
