BOSTON — The Baltimore Orioles saw a five-run lead disappear Sunday night at Fenway Park as a win completely escaped them in the late innings against the defending world champion Boston Red Sox.
The Orioles committed three errors in the final three innings of the game, including on the final play of the game in the bottom of the ninth, when David Lough’s throw home from left field went wide of the plate, allowing Dustin Pedroia to score the winning run to give Boston a 6-5 victory.
That capped a weird ninth inning that saw an umpires’ review on a possible walkoff home run by Pedroia.
With one out in the ninth, Pedroia hit a ball off left-hander Brian Matusz that deflected off a fan near the top of the Green Monster in left field. The play was reviewed by the umpires, and the call was upheld as a double.
Pedroia advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then Baltimore intentionally walked David Ortiz. Right-hander Darren O’Day entered and hit Mike Napoli on the left knee to load the bases.
Pinch-hitter Mike Carp then hit a liner that Lough charged to make a running catch, but his throw scooted past the infield — and cutoff man Jonathan Schoop — and to the backstop, allowing Pedroia to score.
Ubaldo Jimenez held the Red Sox scoreless over his first five innings before allowing a three-run homer to Jonny Gomes to left field on his 107th and final pitch with one out in the sixth inning.
After shortstop J.J. Hardy was forced from the game with a right hamstring strain in the seventh inning, the left side of the Orioles infield committed two errors as the Red Sox scored two runs in the seventh to tie the score at 5.
The Orioles might have been out of the inning if not for the highly scrutinized interpretation of the transfer rule, which forces a player to make a clean transfer from his glove to his throwing hand for an out to be recorded.
With Boston third baseman Brock Holt on first base with one out, Grady Sizemore hit a comebacker to left-hander Zach Britton, who threw to Ryan Flaherty for what most likely would have been a 1-6-3 double play.
Even though Flaherty reached out to catch the ball and had possession, he dropped the ball on the transfer, and Holt was called safe at second.
The inning unraveled from there as Boston scored two unearned runs off Britton. After Pedroia singled to load the bases, Ortiz singled into right field to score one run. Napoli then hit a ball to Schoop, who just moved from second base to third base, but Schoop wildly one-hopped a throw home, allowing the tying run to score.
Hardy is listed as day-to-day with the hamstring strain.
Even though the outing was a step forward for Jimenez after losing his first three starts — he held Boston without a hit for the first 32/ 3 innings and made just one mistake on the homer to Gomes, Jimenez still has a 6.75 ERA and no quality starts.
Jimenez battled back from a 29-pitch first inning that including two seven-pitch plate appearances and a six-pitch at-bat.
The Orioles scored five runs on Jake Peavy in 52/ 3 innings, including Nelson Cruz’s third home run of the season.
— Baltimore Sun