Three Errors in 13th Doom the Orioles

Red Sox 5, Orioles 2

BALTIMORE, May 30 -- The Baltimore Orioles held the Boston Red Sox scoreless for 11 consecutive innings Friday night, an accomplishment that could reasonably allow them to expect victory. They played for nearly five hours, the kind of effort that makes defeat unbearable.

Just before midnight, an evening chocked with promise -- Daniel Cabrera's hopeful start, Baltimore's bullpen clamping down -- yielded a strange and cruel reality: 4 hours 49 minutes of baseball came undone with one high throw from Melvin Mora and one low leap from Kevin Millar.

A seemingly harmless chopper by Manny Ramírez devolved into a three-error top of the 13th inning, leading to three unearned runs -- the winning margin for the Boston Red Sox in a soul-sucking, 5-2 Orioles loss before a sellout crowd of 46,199.

Mike Lowell delivered the game-winning hit, a rope to left field with one out. The hit served as penance for the Orioles leaving the potential game-winning run stranded in scoring position three of the final five innings.

"If you're going to get beat in this game, you'd rather have them beat you," Orioles Manager Dave Trembley said. "Not have it happen the way it did."

Lowell's rocket, though, should not have carried such importance. Chad Bradford induced Ramírez -- stuck on 499 career home runs -- to chop a ball to Mora at third base. Mora, with perhaps too much time to throw, took two hops and fired, the ball sailing high.

"I don't play good defense," Mora said. "I just threw it away. I should have thrown better."

Millar jumped for the ball, perhaps high enough to slide a sheet of paper under his spikes. The ball trickled off his glove, and Ramírez bolted immediately for second base.

"I jumped as high as I could," Millar said. "It was just out of my reach."

Lowell followed by lacing the ball to left field. His hit likely sealed the outcome -- Jonathan Papelbon was warming in the Red Sox bullpen, after all -- but the Orioles ensured Boston's victory with more errors. Freddie Bynum's misfire to Millar resulted in another two runs.

Mora, who made two errors and went 0 for 6 with three strikeouts, accepted all blame for the loss. But, really, there was no need for the game to last until the 13th. The Orioles left 14 men on base, including with men in scoring position in the 9th, 10th and 12th innings.

"We had plenty of opportunities," Trembley said. "We were one hit from winning the game."

They were in position to win largely because of Cabrera and reliever Matt Albers. The ending spoiled another solid start from Cabrera, who turned 27 years old Wednesday, nearly two months into a season during which his achievement may, at last, equal his vast potential. Cabrera's dozen previous starts against the Red Sox brought only more fear that he would never become the pitcher the Orioles believed he could -- along with a 2-9 record and 7.35 ERA.

On Friday, though, he finally solved his nemesis. Cabrera allowed two runs in the first, then shut the Sox down for the next six innings, retiring 10 of 11 batters at one point. Albers pitched scoreless 10th, 11th and 12th innings, retiring the first eight batters he faced. But the Red Sox -- with fireballers Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen -- kept Baltimore at bay as long as they needed to, until the Orioles simply gave the game away.

By the time they retreated to their lockers, the Orioles had tried shifting focus. "We have to get ready to go tomorrow," Trembley said. Bradford, on his way to the postgame buffet inside a quiet clubhouse, patted Mora on the backside. He wanted Mora to forget his mistake, to not feel so badly. For Mora, one fact obstructed that from happening.

"When you play for more than four hours," Mora said, "you expect to win the game."