Ranger Suarez fired seven sharp innings and Mickey Gasper homered in the first, lifting the Boston Red Sox to a 1-0 victory against the host Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.
Suarez (6-4) limited the Orioles to five hits and one walk while striking out three across a 91-pitch effort. He won for just the second time in his past nine starts.
Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman each pitched an inning in relief to complete the shutout. Chapman notched his 32nd save, and second in as many nights, by working the ninth.
The Red Sox (77-65) earned their second victory in a row, but only their fourth in a 10-game stretch. The Orioles (69-73) took a fourth consecutive loss.
Gasper had two of Boston’s five hits.
Orioles starter Shane Baz (5-15) lasted 6 1/3 innings, yielding one run on four hits and two walks. He struck out six in an unsuccessful bid for a second straight win following an 0-8 run in a 12-start stretch.
Blaze Alexander registered three of Baltimore’s six hits, which were all singles. The Orioles left six runners on base but had only three batters go to the plate with a runner in scoring position.
Boston stranded 10 runners, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Gasper was the game’s second batter and he homered on a first-pitch fastball. His eighth long ball of the season was the only extra-base hit in the game.
The Red Sox threatened by loading the bases with two outs in the seventh inning on a single, a walk and a hit batter. However, reliever Alex Hoppe retired Adley Rutschman, the ex-Oriole who homered twice on Thursday in the series opener, on a flyout to end the scoring chance.
Josh Walker and Cam Sanders each pitched a shutout inning in relief for Baltimore, which would need to win the next two games in order to split the four-game series.
