BOSTON— The Orioles again produced little offense on Wednesday night, and despite taking a 3-2 lead in the top of the 10th inning, lost on Tyler O’Neill’s three-run home run against Keegan Akin.
Austin Slater scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th against Greg Weissert (4-2). Jackson Holliday’s fly ball to center sent Slater, the automatic runner, to third, and Slater came home on Emmanuel Rivera’s single to left.
Akin (3-1) struck out Rafael Devers for the first out in the bottom of the 10th. Jarren Duran, the automatic runner, moved to third when Holliday muffed Romy González’s grounder. Had Holliday fielded it cleanly, the Orioles probably would have intentionally walked O’Neill, who hits left-handers extremely well. Akin then threw a slider to O’Neill, who hit his home run over the Green Monster, lifting the Red Sox to a 5-3 victory before 32,448 at Fenway Park.
The Orioles (83-64) lost two of three to the Red Sox (74-72) and fell 1 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East. New York defeated Kansas City, 4-3, in 11 innings.
Rivera’s third home run, leading off the third, gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead. They had a chance to score in the second after Colton Cowser’s popup down the third base line fell after it hit the glove of shortstop Trevor Story and Cowser ended up on third with a generous triple. But Nick Pivetta struck out Slater and Holliday, as the Orioles poor situational hitting continued.
Duran singled to lead off the third. Dean Kremer, who was excellent, walked Devers. Wilyer Abreu hit a dribbler to third that Rivera charged and threw wildly to first, allowing Duran to score.
Boston took a 2-1 lead in the fourth when Cedanne Rafaela’s blooped a base hit to left to score Masataka Yoshida.
Pivetta allowed a run on four hits in six innings, and Chris Martin pitched a scoreless seventh.
Anthony Santander hit his 41st home run with two outs in the eighth against Justin Slaten to tie it at 2-2.
Kremer allowed two runs, one unearned, on five hits in seven innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
The Orioles had a chance in the top of the ninth against Kenley Jansen. Adley Rutschman’s drive to the left-field corner was run down by Duran, and Cowser singled, but Slater hit into a double play.