The Red Sox and Orioles both scored in the third inning, but it was one big swing from shortstop J.J. Hardy that gave Baltimore the upper hand.
First up came the Red Sox, who saw the first three batters in Aviles, Ellsbury, and Pedroia all reach base, with Pedroia’s single up the middle putting the first run of the game on the board. Unfortunately, the first-and-second with zero outs situation would provide not a single run more. David Ortiz grounded into a double play to bring the Sox down to one last out, and after an intentional walk to Adrian Gonzalez and a long battle against Ryan Lavarnway, Alfredo Simon got the Red Sox’ young catcher swinging at an outside breaking ball for the third out.
That’s a pitch that Lavarnway is going to have to learn to lay off as the years go by, but for now, the Sox just don’t have the time to spare.