BOSTON–What happened? Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman left the game after he took a foul ball off the mask during Boston’s Rafael Devers’ third-inning strikeout. He was replaced by Maverick Handley, who pinch-hit for him in the fifth.

Despite Rutschman’s absence, the Orioles won their second straight game for just the third time this season, beating the Red Sox, 5-1, before 36,804 on Sunday.

Dylan Carlson hit his first home run as an Oriole in the fifth. Ryan O’Hearn hit his eighth homer in the sixth. The Orioles scored their first run on Ramón Urías sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

Carlson also made an excellent catch on Devers’ drive to right field in the first.

The Orioles added two more runs in the eighth. Gunnar Henderson walked, and O’Hearn doubled. Henderson scored on a throwing error by Ceddanne Rafaela, and O’Hearn scored on a throwing error by shortstop Marcelo Mayer.

Dean Kremer pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings, giving up seven hits, walking one and striking out four.

Gregory Soto, Keegan Akin and Bryan Baker combined for 2 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit.

Andrew Kittredge allowed a run on two hits in the ninth.

“I don’t want to talk about turning the corner,” O’Hearn said about the win. “I want to take it one day at a time. I feel like in this business that’s the best way to go about it. I think every time you get a win, you build confidence. I thought the bullpen was electric today,

“Dean pitched great today. Guys are throwing good right now, and I’m just proud of the complete game we put together. Defense was amazing today. Carlson made a really good play early in the game. Just proud of the guys.”

The Orioles (18-34) split the four-game series with the Red Sox (27-28), losing the first game on Friday, 19-5 before splitting Saturday’s doubleheader, losing 6-5 in 10 innings and winning, 2-1.

What’s the latest on Rutschman? Rutschman was hit in the top of the third, but wasn’t taken out until the top of the fifth.

“Just took medical precaution. we’re just going to monitor and evaluate over the next 24 hours, and we’ll go from there,” Mansolino said.

He did not say whether Rutschman is in concussion protocol.

“It’s just a precaution at the moment,” Mansolino said.

“As we kind of saw it play out, we have a great medical team,” Mansolino said. “They were on him immediately, and we have [bench coach Robinson] Chirinos, too, who lived it himself. They were communicating with him immediately. The communication was great. Once [head athletic trainer] Scotty [Barringer] felt like there was a need to take him out as a precaution, we did it immediately.”

Kremer empathized with Rutschman.

“Getting hit with baseballs does not feel good, I promise, whether you have protection on or not,” Kremer said. “I think he’s doing OK, seems OK. Again, I’m not a medical professional, so it’s not up to me. I think he’s OK.”

What would Orioles do without Rutschman? Without Gary Sánchez, who’s out indefinitely with a wrist injury, Maverick Handley has been Rutschman’s backup. Handley’s hitting .045.

The Orioles signed Cooper Hummel on Sunday, and besides playing the outfield, he has caught 18 games in the majors.

Chadwick Tromp, whom the Orioles signed on April 13^th, has played 61 games with Atlanta and San Francisco since 2020. He’s now at Norfolk.  David Bañuelos is the current Orioles’ taxi squad catcher. He could be an option. Bañuelos had one at-bat last year for the Orioles.

It’s unlikely that the Orioles would call up  their top prospect, Samuel Basallo, now. Basallo missed three weeks last month with a hamstring injury.

Many fans would like to see a reunion between last year’s backup catcher, James McCann, and the Orioles. McCann is currently at Triple-A Gwinnett, Atlanta’s top minor league team. He has a rolling opt-out of his contract.

How did Kremer throw? Kremer allowed at least one hit in every inning, and two in the third. With runners on first and third, he retired Kristian Campbell on a grounder to shortstop.

“Getting out of innings with runners on has been a struggle for me throughout the year,” Kremer said. “Getting to two outs, then giving up a hit that scores a couple has kind of killed me of late. Being able to pitch with guys on and still getting bad contact, I’ll take it any day of the week.”

Are the Orioles improving? After enduring an eight-game losing streak, the Orioles have won three of five.

The Orioles got good starts in their last two games. On Saturday night, Trevor Rogers pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits. On Sunday, Kremer pitched well, too.

“Maybe it gives us a little bit of breathing room and feel like nobody has to press every time there’s a man on third, less than two outs,” O’Hearn said. “Obviously, you want to get the run in, but it kind of gives you a second to take a breather and slow it down a little bit. Dean was great today, Trevor was great yesterday. That’s huge for us.”

Mansolino likes where the Orioles are with a six-game homestand against St. Louis and the Chicago White Sox.

“I think any time you win two straight there’s some momentum,” Mansolino said. “As a vibe, these guys always have the good vibes. Just a little bit of momentum with a couple wins, and hopefully we can carry it into Camden against the Cardinals.”

Kremer also likes what he’s seen from the club.

“The last two games were right where we should be,” Kremer said. “It’s something to build off of, and all we can do is continue to move forward after that.”

What does it mean? It was nice for the Orioles to win consecutive games against an AL East team. They’ve yet to win three straight.

What’s the word? “This is a tough day, man, after these last two days, doubleheaders and everything that was going on, we needed that.”-Mansolino on Kremer’s start.

What’s the stat of the day? This is just the second time the Orioles have won two consecutive games against the same opponent.

What’s going on in the minor leagues? Colton Cowser continued his rehab assignment with High-A Aberdeen, playing seven innings in center field and going hitless in three at-bats in a 8-5 win over Wilmington.

Rightfielder Raylin Ramos hit a two-run home run in Single-A Delmarva’s 7-5 win over Salem.

What’s next? The Orioles open a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday. Charlie Morton (0-7, 7.68) will face Erick Fedde (3-3, 3.77) at 3:05 p.m.

Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich,@BaltimoreBaseball.com