Orioles eliminated from playoff contention with 8-3 loss to Red Sox
Over half of the league gets to keep playing after Sunday with expanded playoffs this season. The game that solidified that the Orioles won’t be one of them was, perhaps not coincidentally, about as lousy as they’ve played all year.
In an 8-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, the Orioles made three errors and continued their low-scoring ways to render the rest of their five-game road trip moot.
A Toronto Blue Jays loss kept the Orioles (23-32) five games out of the last wild-card playoff spot with five games to play, though their 1-6 record so far against Toronto means they Blue Jays hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Orioles took an early lead on a single by DJ Stewart in the first inning, but his error with two outs in the second inning was the team’s second of the game and allowed a run to score when he had a routine fly ball hit his glove and fall to the outfield grass.
Rio Ruiz had a throwing error to begin the second inning, and Ramón Urías bobbled a slow ground ball up the middle in the fifth inning that wasn’t punished.
Boston was sloppy too, but the Orioles didn’t take advantage much. Their two-run miniature rally came in the sixth inning when Boston left fielder Michael Chavis misjudged two line drives that went over his head, but the Orioles stranded two in that inning, which began with a home run from Renato Núñez.
Pedro Severino left the bases loaded to end the game.
———
©2020 The Baltimore Sun
Visit The Baltimore Sun at www.baltimoresun.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
