Orioles beat Red Sox's offseason prizes to stay undefeated
BOSTON -- When Dave Dombrowski took over as the Boston Red Sox’s new president of baseball operations in August he had two prime offseason targets with the hope of preventing a third straight last-place finish: left-hander David Price to be the team’s new ace and Craig Kimbrel to be the closer.
He was successful in landing both – Price on a seven-year, $217 million deal, Kimbrel in a trade with the San Diego Padres for four prospects.
Price started Monday’s home opener at Fenway Park against the Baltimore Orioles and Kimbrel was in for the ninth. But it did not go as the Red Sox planned, falling to the Orioles, 9-7.
Baltimore remains baseball’s only undefeated team, at 6-0 the best start to a season in franchise history.
“We knew we were going to have our work cut out, first road trip, Opening Day for those guys, they were going to be jacked up,” said Orioles first baseman Chris Davis, who hit a go-ahead, three-run home run in the ninth inning off Kimbrel. “When you’ve got a guy like David Price on the mound, you know you’ve got a battle. Any win on the road is good, especially early in the season.”
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And this one came at the expense of the Red Sox’s big-ticket acquisitions.
With the Red Sox leading, 3-0, in the third, the Orioles sent eight batters to the plate against Price, with five scoring. Mark Trumbo delivered the big blast of the inning, a three-run shot into the Boston bullpen along with Davis’ two-run single. For Trumbo, who is now 8 for 22 with two home runs and seven RBI against Price, it was his first home run and RBI of the season.
“I knew one of them would go for extra bases but it was fun to get the RBI, too,” Trumbo said. “It was something I hadn’t done yet, either. You know it’s going to happen, you just don't know when. It was a great situation for it.”
With the game tied, 6-6, in the ninth, Kimbrel issued a one-out walk to No. 9 hitter Caleb Joseph. After striking out Joey Rickard, he gave up another free pass, on four pitches to Manny Machado, bringing up Davis, who clobbered a 97-mph fastball and delivered it to straightaway center field, nearly to the back wall of the bleachers for a 9-6 lead.
Davis, who had never faced Kimbrel before, has three home runs already.
“I saw the ball the well the first pitch,” said Davis, who the Orioles re-signed to a seven-year, $161 million deal. “I think it helped that Manny saw four pitches. It kind of gave me a little time to get a look at (Kimbrel) on deck.”
Said Kimbrel: “It was disappointing. I felt like (Price) went out there and he battled all day and our offense gave us a chance. I went out there – I’m frustrated – I went out there and kind of beat myself. I can’t be walking guys in that situation. Davis put a good swing on a pitch and hit it a long ways.”
David Ortiz came up with two on and no outs in the ninth. But rather than delivering one of his Big Papi moments in his final home opener, he grounded into a double play before Hanley Ramirez struck out to end the game.
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“It happens,” Ortiz said. “Just got to come tomorrow with the same attitude.”
Price needed 103 pitches to get through just five innings, although he struck out eight. He also uncorked two wild pitches - or as many as he gave up in each of the 2009, 2011 and 2014 seasons.
“Just execution there in that third inning,” said Price. “That’s kind of been my Achilles’ heel, having that one bad inning. That’s all it takes in this game. It can be one pitch, and today it was just that one inning.”
The 6-0 start matches the Orioles’ longest win streak since 1999.
“Our guys are very reality-based, understand it doesn’t mean much of anything,” Showalter said. “We’ve got, what, 156 more? So, grab a seat.”