Baltimore Orioles Shut Out Toothless Red Sox

Sep 8, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Baltimore Orioles first baseman Steve Pearce (28) gets a hit to drive in a run against the Boston Red Sox in the second inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Opening the second half of a six-game road trip, the Baltimore Orioles shut out the Red Sox at Fenway by a score of 4-0.

Are the Orioles pitchers just that good, or are the Red Sox hitters simply that bad?

The answer is a little bit of both. The Orioles pitching has been good, that is for sure. Yet again, this is the 14^th time in the 2014 season that the Red Sox have been held scoreless.

The fat lady is getting ready to sing at the New York Metropolitan Opera

Add also to the equation that the Orioles defense was typically very solid, whereas three Boston errors contributed significantly to the Birds being able to get their four runs. Baltimore turned three very good double plays, whereas on a bases-loaded ground ball by Ryan Flaherty to first base resulted in shortstop Xander Bogaerts throwing away the return to the pitcher covering. Instead of getting out of the inning, two runs scored. Steve Pearce’s slide at second had much to do with it. This sixth-inning error gave the Orioles some space on the scoreboard at 3-0.

While the offense was grinding out some runs,

was pitching another excellent game. He held the Red Sox scoreless through a total of 6.1 innings, but after giving up three singles in the bottom of the seventh, he yielded the mound to

. After falling behind

3-0, Hunter threw fastballs at 96, 97, and 98 mph to strike him out … following that with a strikeout also of

… as seen in this MLB video from the Orioles site …

It was great to see Darren O’Day and

come on in the 8

th

and 9

th

innings and have success as well.

With the Yankees idle, the Orioles have now opened a full 10-game lead over their NY nemesis, with the same margin over the Blue Jays. The magic number is now down to 11. The fat lady is getting ready to sing.

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Chris Tillman will pitch for the Orioles on Tuesday night, taking to the hill a record of 11-5, 3.40.  Boston will start Anthony Ranaudo (3-1, 4.63) in what will be his fifth game and start of his career. He has a minor league career record of 35-18. I happened to note that it will be his 25^th birthday. It seems to me that the gift of humility would be an appropriate present. One more isolated fact is that he is taller than Chris Tillman, which makes him a foot taller than Dustin Pedroia … but most people are.