Leave it to the Orioles to once again throw cold water on the Red Sox’ mojo.
With the Indians losing in Kansas City, a win against Baltimore last night would have clinched a playoff berth for the Red Sox and inched them closer to locking up the AL East.
Instead, the Orioles, perpetrators of one of the all-time greatest insults to the Red Sox in Game 162 of the 2011 season, canceled the party with a 5-3 win in 12 innings at Fenway Park.
With the Rays winning in their own extra-inning game against the Rangers, the Sox’ magic number to clinch the division remained at 3. The magic number for a playoff spot is 1.
The Orioles, fighting for their own playoff lives, played the spoiler role to perfection once again.
“That’s a good ballclub across the way,’’ said Red Sox starter Jake Peavy, who went seven innings and allowed three runs. “We all knew coming into the season what Baltimore could do. We’ve seen that team. That lineup is deep and balanced as any lineup. You’re talking about an All-Star hitting eighth, J.J. Hardy, and Brian Roberts, a few-time All-Star, hitting ninth. That’s a deep, balanced lineup with speed, left-handed, right-handed power.
“Nothing comes easy in Major League Baseball, much less the AL East, but we’re going to grind it out and we’re going to get it done.”
The Red Sox went up 2-0 in the first inning courtesy of David Ortiz’ 28th home run of the season. The lead evaporated in the fifth due to a pair of RBI doubles from Matt Wieters and Roberts. The Orioles pulled ahead in the sixth on another Wieters’ RBI double but Mike Napoli’s sixth-inning leadoff homer tied the game at 3.
The score remained deadlocked through the 11th. The Red Sox, who had 15 hits but went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine, had pinch-runner Quintin Berry at second in the 11th, but Stephen Drew grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Franklin Morales, who pitched a clean 11th, surrendered two singles and then issued an intentional walk in the 12th before Chris Davis singled up the middle for a 5-3 lead, something the Sox could not overcome.
The Sox had their chances earlier, including a bases-loaded, no-outs situation in the third. However, Napoli’s line drive out to a leaping Hardy at shortstop, and a 1-2-3 double play ball off the bat of Jonny Gomes negated the threat.
“We gave ourselves plenty of opportunities — men in scoring position, they would make a key pitch — we grounded into four double plays,” said Sox manager John Farrell. “A lot of good things went on in this game, I thought. Overall, offensively, we put a number of guys on base, but they made a key pitch in a key moment, and ground-ball double plays speak to that.”
Don’t think for a second that the Sox’ situation for a postseason berth is as dire as it was two Septembers ago when Robert Andino’s RBI hit landed in front of Carl Crawford and sent the Sox into a death spiral that did not reverse course until this year. This year’s team certainly bears little to no resemblance to the 2011 crew or the last-place 2012 squad.
But the Orioles are a tough out and the Red Sox respect that.
“They always play us well, play us tough,” said Daniel Nava, who went 0-for-4. “That’s a good team, pitching, hitting, defense. A lot of those guys have been around for a while. I don’t think they’re out of it either. Every game matters to them just as it matters to us.’’
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