The Orioles earn a wild 13-12 victory, their seventh straight, as rookies and veterans race past the Red Sox – Twin Cities

Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg are the Orioles’ two youngest position players. Aaron Hicks and James McCann are her two eldest.

That quartet combined for five home runs, two by McCann, in a 13-12 victory over the Boston Red Sox, an offensive performance that helped end another poor start with the acquisition of Jack Flaherty and a shaky night for the bullpen and to balance the Orioles’ defense. Baltimore allowed a season-high 23 hits and left multiple runners on base in each of the final three innings, while a four-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning all but disappeared.

The Orioles (90-51) won their seventh game and seventh straight series and reached the 90-win mark for the first time since 2014, their last AL East win. Saturday’s win at Fenway Park solidified their division lead over the Tampa Bay Rays for four games and lowered their magic number to secure a playoff spot to six.

The Orioles have scored in double figures in every game of their winning streak, including nine from Saturday, 14 came from Henderson, Westburg, Hicks and McCann. The rookies are valuable products of the Orioles’ rebuild and were selected with the second pick in the 2019 and 2020 drafts, respectively. Baltimore plucked the two veterans from the relative scrap heap; The New York Yankees released Hicks amid his slow start to the season, and the New York Mets traded McCann to the Orioles for a minor league player this offseason, eating up most of the remaining money on his contract in the process.

The foursome fueled the club’s 45th comeback win. After Flaherty allowed a home run in the first inning, Baltimore jumped out to an early 2-0 hole, but in the second inning, Baltimore was able to get a run back thanks to a double by Hicks, a single by Westburg and a throwing error by Boston shortstop Trevor Story.

The Orioles took a four-run lead in the fourth when Hicks followed an RBI double by Anthony Santander with a three-run home run by Hicks, who flipped his bat almost immediately after contact. Baltimore’s lead grew to 7-2 when the fourth began with a double by Westburg before McCann converted a center-cutting changeup by Chris Sale for a two-run home run.

But Flaherty couldn’t capitalize on the support. He opened the end of the fourth quarter with a walk and then allowed two hits before a sacrifice fly that required a diving catch by left fielder Austin Hays chased him from the game after 3 1/3 innings. An error by Henderson at third led to two unearned runs, one attributed to Flaherty and the other to reliever Cionel Pérez, cutting Baltimore’s lead to 7-6.

Flaherty, an impending free agent, allowed one run over six innings in his first start for the Orioles after they traded three prospects Baseball America ranked in Baltimore’s top 20 – albeit all outside the top 10 – to St .Louis Cardinals gave up to sign him. Since then, he has failed to make it past six frames in any of his five starts, allowing 21 earned runs over 21 2/3 innings with a batting line of .326/.393/.589.

After running wide left at second base to score the final out in the fifth and prevent Boston (72-70) from tying the game, Westburg hit a home run with one out in the fifth. On the next at-bat, McCann went deep again, the 10-year veteran’s second multi-home run game of his career coming on the three-year anniversary of his first.

Henderson appeared to open the game with a three-run home run in the seventh. Santander came in from third base and pumped his fist in the air as the AL Rookie of the Year leader began his trot. But the Red Sox answered with three runs in the bottom half off Jacob Webb despite Danny Coulombe leaving the bases loaded in the frame. Jorge López left two more runners on in the eighth frame, and Yennier Cano did the same, although he gave up three runs in the final frame.

Both Westburg and Hicks completed the cycle three times. After Westburg was flied out in the bottom of the seventh, Adam Frazier replaced him at second base, with Ramón Urías delivering a narrow RBI single in Frazier’s place in the bottom of the ninth.

Around the Horn

• Left-hander John Means appeared to have overcome his final hurdle before returning from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery, throwing a bullpen session that manager Brandon endured at Fenway Park on Saturday Hyde said, “It went well.” Asked if it was possible Means could start one of the Orioles’ three games in the upcoming home series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Hyde said, “We’ll see.”
• All-Star closer Félix Bautista, who was placed on the 15-day injured list two weeks ago with an ulnar collateral ligament injury in his right elbow, felt “good” afterward. Playing catch before the game on FridayHyde said.
• The game began after a rain delay of 1 hour and 32 minutes.

This story will be updated.

Orioles at the Red Sox

Sunday, 1:35 p.m

TV: MASN

Radio: 97.9FM, 101.5FM, 1090AM

()