The Red Sox fell to the Orioles 6-3 Sunday afternoon thanks to another disastrous outing from Zach Stewart.
Things started much the same for Stewart in Baltimore as hey had in Los Angeles. On just the fourth pitch of the game, a flat fastball to Nate McLouth resulted in a leadoff homer, and a pair of singles followed close behind. Plunking Adam Jones to load the bases with one out, a double play ball would help to limit the damage, though Jim Thome singled to add a third run all-the-same.
While he managed to improve in the second, earning three quick ground balls, Stewart fell right back into his same bad habits in the third, offering up an almost identical leadoff homer to J.J. Hardy and then being pulled after another pair of singles scored a fifth run for Baltimore.
Joe Saunders, meanwhile, wasn't exactly looking impressive on the mound, but was having better results. Hard contact over and over led to outs over and over, frustrating the Red Sox over and over. Cody Ross managed to make him pay for his poor pitching in the fourth with a leadoff solo shot, but that was all the Sox managed until the seventh, when Daniel Nava took him deep for two.
Still, that would be good for just three runs, and with Chris Davis taking a good pitch from Clayton Mortensen deep in the fifth, the Orioles were able to pick up a sixth. The Sox went quietly against the Baltimore bullpen, and the Orioles completed the sweep.
Read more on the Red Sox at Over the Monster and SB Nation Boston. Baseball Nation is your source for news and analysis from around Major League Baseball.