Orioles beat Red Sox 1-0, pull within game of 1st place

Wednesday was no different, except for just one guy.

Mark Trumbo’s towering solo home run in the second inning proved to be the difference in the Baltimore Orioles’ 1-0 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night at Fenway Park.

Porcello was 13-0 in home starts with one no decision entering the game.

Trumbo’s 42nd homer of the season led off the second, and traveled 447 feet. “He’s got as much power as anybody in the game and if you don’t make your pitches, you see what he can do with it”. However, at the other extreme, if the Red Sox should sweep, then the Yankees will fall 8 games back in the AL East.

Porcello took the loss despite retiring 18 of 19 batters from the second through the seventh. He remained in the game after a visit from the medical staff and a few warmup pitches. Orioles RHP Yovani Gallardo (5-7, 5.44 ERA) opposes Rays LHP Blake Snell (5-8, 3.62) on Thursday in Baltimore.

Gausman (8-10) outdueled Porcello, the majors’ first 20-game victor, tossing eight scoreless innings while allowing four hits and one walk and striking out six.

Matt Boyd (5-4) took the loss in his worst outing since June.

“The beauty of playing the teams ahead of you is that if we win series, we’ll be making up games”, Chase Headley said. “There’s no satisfaction in that”, Porcello said. However he also pitched out of that jam, and we played on. This was a big game for us. “A lot of big baseball to be played and we’re still in good position”.

Boston will look to get back on track when they welcome the New York Yankees to town for a four-game set beginning tonight.

“This was a classic pitcher’s duel”, Boston manager John Farrell said.

The Orioles are now two games out of first behind Boston, and they’re two games in front of Detroit in the wild card. “A one-pitch swing of the bat from Trumbo is the difference in it”.

Gausman held the Red Sox without a hit for 3 2/3 innings before Mookie Betts hit a line-drive single to right. Gausman, though, worked out of trouble by fanning Sandy Leon, his sixth and final strikeout of the night.

Zach Britton closed for his 43rd save.

It’s wonderful to think that the only player on the current roster to experience a big September game between the Yankees and Red Sox is Jacoby Ellsbury, who experienced it as a September call-up for Boston in 2007.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are hanging around behind the O’s and Blue Jays in fourth place. “We just walked off the field after a well-played series here, so we’ll be ready to go (Thursday)”. Instead, the Sox are no one game up on the O’s, and two over the Blue Jays. Farrell said when asked about the tight A.L. East race.

Turning the page will start Thursday with a four-game series against the New York Yankees, who, as it happens, boast MLB’s second-best record in one-run games at 24-9.

Still, Porcello’s bid for his 21st win of the season, and his 14th at Fenway, was a strong one. Porcello immediately started limping but stayed in the game after being examined. He lasted seven innings for the first time this season, allowing a run on four hits and two walks to earn his second win.

Bundy would give up one more run, on a solo homer by Xander Bogaerts in the fifth. It was Pedroia’s second hitless game in his last 20.

Youth movement: The Red Sox, like the Yankees, have turned to their top prospects for a late-season boost.