Jun 2, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Shane Baz (34) pitches against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images
BOSTON–What happened? The Orioles are in the midst of a 13-game stretch against American League East teams, their longest of the season, and they continued their recent strong play with their sixth win in eight games.
Even though the Orioles are only 9-12 against the AL East, they’ve played well recently thanks to solid starts and hitting that’s been good enough to win.
Shane Baz won for the second straight time, pitching seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits to lead Orioles past the Boston Red Sox, 4-2, before 35,004 at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.
With the win, the Orioles are 29-32, the first time they’ve been three games under .500 since May 6th.
“I think just, our lineup is so good at grinding out at-bats and kind of getting what they want and punishing guys,” Baz said. “The pitching has been great. I think our walks have been down. I feel like we’re challenging hitters a little more and just trusting our stuff. Our bullpen’s been really great all year, so, yeah, you know, we’ve got to just keep doing what we’re doing right now.”
The last time the Orioles saw the Red Sox (25-34), they had shockingly fired manager Alex Cora and much of his coaching staff after a 17-1 win in Baltimore on April 25th.
Coby Mayo, who got engaged in Boston on Monday, celebrated by hitting his seventh home run in the second, and Pete Alonso blasted a two-run homer, his 12th, in the fourth.
The Orioles mixed in some small ball, with Leody Taveras’ league-leading sixth sacrifice bunt, sending Tyler O’Neil to third and enabling him to score on Blaze Alexander’s sacrifice fly to center against Connelly Early (5-3).
“We have the power, we have the thump, but now being able to play with small ball, getting the bunt, moving the runners over, running the bases as well, stealing bases,” manager Craig Albernaz said.
Taveras also bunted for a base hit in the ninth, the fourth time he’s done that.
“I think there’s going to be ups and downs all year,” Mayo said. “It’s gonna happen to everybody. No one’s gonna be perfect, and I think sometimes when guys go cold, you know, a few guys can go cold at a time … but when the team’s hot, like we’re gonna win some games, we’re gonna win a lot of games.
“I think that the team approach has been really good, like you know, Leo, with all these bunts he’s doing, sacrifice bunts, moving runners over, a lot of sac flies.”
Jarren Duran tripled against Baz (3-5), a ball that leftfielder Taylor Ward tried to pick up, but the ball eluded him after a slide. Duran scored on Wilyer Abreu’s sacrifice fly to center.
Marcelo Mayer’s sacrifice fly to center scored Micky Gasper in the fifth to cut the Orioles lead to 4-2.
Chad Durbin followed the scoring fly ball with a double, but Baz struck out Duran.
Baz struck out six and walked two, continuing a nice run by Orioles’ starters. They have a 2.40 ERA in their last 13 games.
Andrew Kittredge, who hadn’t been used in high-leverage situations recently, allowed one hit in a scoreless eighth.
Rico Garcia recorded his fourth save with a perfect ninth, striking out two.
How well has Baz been pitching? Baz delivered his fourth consecutive quality start. It’s quite an improvement over early in the season.
“I feel like I was maybe pressing a little bit,” Baz said. “Just, you know, trying too hard. Sometimes you can try too hard to do some stuff and not really just trusting my stuff in the zone as much as I should. Yeah, I feel like I’ve gotten better as the season’s gone.”
Albernaz was impressed with his outing, too.
“Shane was outstanding tonight,” he said. “Efficiency in the strike zone, I think he finished — at one point he had 70 percent strikes late in the game — I think he finished 68 percent. He did a great job attacking. Loved the changeup usage as the game went on. Curveball was starting to get sharper with a lot of bite. And the fastball, two-seam and the four-seam, had great life through the strike zone. He did a great job tonight pounding the strike zone and being able to induce weak contact when he needed to.”
Why was Kittredge used in the eighth? Albernaz didn’t use Yennier Cano or Anthony Nunez in the eighth. Instead he used Kittredge, who despite his long record of success, entered the game with a 7.59 ERA.
Kittredge got a late start to his season because he was on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation.
“Since coming off the IL, Kitt’s been slowly turning it on,” Albernaz said. “His past couple outings have been encouraging, even though some of the results weren’t what he wanted. But stuff-wise and process-wise, it’s been great. So in that situation, in the eighth, it was a great spot for him.
“He stepped up big, too. He threw 11 pitches, 11 strikes. His slider was up to 90 mph with some really good depth on it. To me, when it has that depth and that velo against lefties, that’s when it’s at its best. Kitt did a great job tonight and look forward to kind of seeing where he’s at moving forward.”
Kittredge liked how her performed.
“I’ve been feeling better and better every time out,” he said. “I think that was something that I kind of needed. You get a little extra juice, a little extra adrenaline in those situations. It’s something I’ve been wanting to feel for a while, but I understand kind of where I’ve been at. I’m just trying to get better each time I get out and today was good.”
What does it mean? Good start, clean game, some power and small ball added up to another Orioles win.
What’s the stat of the day? 5. The Orioles have won five straight games at Fenway Park, equaling their best stretch since a five-game run from July 5th-September 10th, 2014.
What’s the word? “We’re playing great team baseball right now. Running the bases well. Defense has been outstanding. Starting pitching has been great. Bullpen has been keeping us afloat, especially when we weren’t playing our best. And offensively we’re starting to hit our stride, just not being one-dimensional.”-Albernaz on the Orioles’ push
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Creed Willems and Luis Vázquez homered in Triple-A Norfolk’s 6-4 loss to Gwinnett.
Double-A Chesapeake took advantage of five Erie errors and scored 10 unearned runs in a 15-12 win. Aron Estrada and Griff O’Ferrall homered.
Vance Honeycutt had three hits, including his seventh home run, and Victor Figueroa hit his 12th as High-A Frederick beat Hudson Valley, 7-3.
Single-A Delmarva was held to four hits in a 2-1 loss to Augusta.
What’s next? Chris Bassitt (4-3, 5.06) will start against Payton Tolle (2-2, 2.61) on Wednesday night at 6:45.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com
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