Orioles salvage one game from Red Sox series with 5-1 win

BOSTON — A two-game sample out of 162 can hardly feel all that pivotal. It is a sliver of a season, and yet these two games at Fenway Park on Wednesday carried weight far more colossal than a typical cross section of a season.

Part of that energy came from a crowd hoping to witness history. These Boston fans saw the Red Sox tie their franchise record when the club beat the Orioles in the afternoon, giving them 15 straight wins.

They packed in for the nightcap of this divisional doubleheader, and even after the Red Sox fell into a hole to Baltimore in the first inning, there was no dampening the environment. At least not until the Orioles closed out a critical 5-1 victory to salvage one game from this series.

That salvage effort was led by Baltimore’s newest $90 million man.

“Fenway’s always [a] fun, difficult place to pitch,” right-hander Kyle Bradish said. “Obviously, their team’s been doing really good as of late. But, yeah, I definitely went out there with that on my mind, trying to end it.”

Doing so ensured the Orioles can continue to hang in an in-between territory regarding their trade deadline course of action. A sweep in this series, featuring two losses Wednesday, would have dropped them five games back of the Red Sox, who hold the third and final American League wild-card place.

Instead, with nine games to play ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline, Baltimore is three games behind Boston. The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies, two teams well above .500, remain part of the upcoming schedule for the Orioles (50-53). A path into the postseason conversation remains an uphill task.

Perhaps the climb is already too steep. But for the moment the Orioles can continue to dream.

“At this point, every win’s important,” Bradish said. “But they’re right in front of us in the standings. So being able to take one is really big for this team. I mean, we had the second-longest streak going in [seven games]. So, yeah, definitely wanted to at least get one here.”

It helped having Bradish on the mound. There is a reason president of baseball operations Mike Elias handed him a new five-year, $90 million contract — he’s a stopper. Faced with a Red Sox team on a tear, with the Orioles having lost the first two games of this series and in need of a win to stay within a more reasonable distance of the postseason, Bradish delivered.

“His stuff is electric, and ever since he’s come back from injury, he’s been lights out,” shortstop Gunnar Henderson said. “It’s been really fun to play behind him, and a lot of weak contact, which makes the infield a lot more fun.”

Bradish recorded six innings of one-run ball, walking one, allowing four hits and striking out four. The lone run against him came with two outs in the fourth, when Willson Contreras doubled and Masataka Yoshida followed with an RBI single.

Bradish said the last week was long, “but it was amazing.” In his first start since signing that deal, he said, he wanted to act as though this was any other game. That is easier said than done.

“We’ve got a great support staff — pitching coaches, all my teammates here, they were all really excited for me, and I wanted to just go out there and kind of make them proud," Bradish said.

Bradish stymied a Red Sox lineup that jumped on right-hander Dean Kremer in the first game of the day.

In an inverse of what Baltimore managed against left-hander Eduardo Rivera in the nightcap, Kremer allowed four first-inning runs in the matinee. He conceded four singles to the first five batters, and Jarren Duran’s two-run triple capped that quick bombardment.

Kremer still gave six innings, which helped keep the pitching staff fresh ahead of the second game. And Bradish had the benefit of working with a lead before he even took the bump.

Against Rivera, a 23-year-old with limited major league experience, the Orioles loaded the bases and scored on a two-out wild pitch. Then Dylan Beavers prodded a two-run single and Johnathan Rodríguez — called up Wednesday because Samuel Basallo landed on the 10-day injured list — scored Beavers with a double.

“Proud of our guys coming out, being ready to go from pitch one and to go get four runs in the first,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “It was really good, and our offense did a great job of grinding out at-bats, getting good pitches to hit and kind of just keep on keeping the line moving.”

Rivera was out of the game, having recorded only two outs. He threw 41 pitches. Boston inserted bulk pitcher Brayan Bello, and he worked 5 1/3 scoreless innings to keep the Fenway Park crowd engaged and hopeful.

But, once Bello was out of the game, the Orioles struck again. Henderson, who hasn’t produced at the level he expects this season, drove his fourth extra-base hit of the series. Three were doubles Monday — all against lefties. His fourth was a triple against left-hander Jovani Morán. Henderson promptly scored on a wild pitch to reestablish a four-run lead for Baltimore’s bullpen.

When the Orioles exited the All-Star break, the 15 games between then and the trade deadline were practically a season by themselves. It was a sprint to decide how Elias would approach the deadline, be it buying or selling or a mix of the two.

Baltimore opened it with a sweep of the Houston Astros and now avoided a complete unraveling in Boston — and, by taking the finale, the Orioles prevented the Red Sox from setting a franchise record of 16 straight wins.

“We’re trying to win every game we play, and it’s still July 22,” Albernaz said. “So there’s still a lot of season left. But being able to get a win against a really hot team and division opponent that we’re in a race with, yeah, it was definitely a huge win for us.”

More than the satisfaction that might come from preventing Boston from doing something, the Orioles needed this game as much as they could need any in July. The two games Wednesday, when looking at them from a macro level, may seem like any two games.

But, until the Orioles are well and truly mathematically eliminated from postseason contention, these games carry weight. A loss would have made Baltimore’s climb even harder. This win in the nightcap gives a momentary reprieve until the next big game — which is right around the corner, on Friday at Camden Yards against Atlanta.

This article has been updated.