Orioles Fail to Solve Red Sox -- Again

Red Sox 6, Orioles 5

BALTIMORE, Sept. 14 -- The Boston Red Sox team that came to Baltimore this week is a far cry from the 2004 World Series champions, or even the playoff teams of 2003 and last season. These are the Lenny DiNardo, Dustin Pedroia and Mike Burns Red Sox, a mix of rookies and veterans playing out the September string, something the Orioles have become quite familiar with the past nine seasons.

Yet with neither team in the playoff mix, the Orioles still could not take a series from Boston for the first time this year and for the first time since July 2005. Mark Loretta's ninth-inning single against reliever Rodrigo Lopez gave Boston a 6-5 win and dropped the Orioles to 2-13 against Boston this season.

"The key was walking the first two guys," said Lopez, who started the year in the rotation before being demoted to the bullpen recently. "In any role, I'm not going to make excuses for walking the first two batters of an inning."

With the tying run on third base with only one out against Mike Timlin in the ninth, Baltimore catcher Ramon Hernandez hit into a double play to end the game.

The Baltimore bullpen blew a 5-3 lead for starter Adam Loewen after the Orioles struck for five runs in the fourth inning, chasing DiNardo. But Baltimore could not score any more runs against Boston's relief pitching.

The game turned in the eighth with the Orioles still clinging to a 5-4 lead. Boston put one man on against reliever Todd Williams, and Orioles Manager Sam Perlozzo quickly summoned closer Chris Ray, who allowed a single to Kevin Youkilis and then allowed a game-tying hit to Loretta.

"I made my pitches, but they got a couple bloop hits," Ray said.

The odds of Baltimore winning the game appeared slim when David Ortiz approached the plate with two men on base. But Ray did not give in to Ortiz, who took a hack at the only fastball Ray threw in the strike zone and then cringed when he fouled it off. Ortiz did not get another pitch to hit. After walking, Ortiz stared at Ray and walked to first base.

Ray quickly retired Wily Mo Peña on a foul out for the second out, but then fell behind 3-1 to Mike Lowell. The count eventually turned full before Lowell lined out to Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts to end the inning.

For all the praise given to the rookie Loewen, he was definitely not spectacular on Thursday night, yielding three runs in five-plus innings. The most impressive thing Loewen did on Thursday was realizing he did not have his best fastball and then improvising with his change-up.

"It was a day when my fastball didn't have life and I didn't have the command I needed," Loewen said.

Baltimore has trumpeted several young players, but only Nick Markakis seems ready to contribute next year. Rookie reliever Jim Hoey, who imploded earlier this week against the New York Yankees, has a strong fastball, but he has yet to show command of a breaking pitch.

On Thursday night, Hoey, brought in to protect a two-run lead in the seventh, walked the first batter he faced (Ortiz) and then gave up a deep fly to Peña that was caught by center fielder David Newhan at the wall. Hoey retired the next batter, but then allowed an RBI double to Jason Varitek.

This time, Perlozzo emerged from the dugout to pull Hoey from the game, something he did not do on Monday when the Yankees took the lead by scoring six runs against the rookie reliever. On Monday, Perlozzo said he hesitated to pull Hoey because Brian Burres, a lefty warming up in the bullpen that night, was unproven and untested.

Less than a week later, Perlozzo removed Hoey in favor of Burres to face Red Sox right fielder Trot Nixon. Burres struck out Nixon to end the inning.