– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — All of the signs pointed to a long night for the Boston Red Sox on Friday. A team that had lost 60 percent of its games post-All Star Break was facing the American League’s Cy Young frontrunner; a beleaguered bullpen was going up against the team who leads the Major Leagues in home runs; oh, and tonight was going to be a bullpen game for Boston, which, outside of closer Kenley Jansen, leaves a lot more questions than answers.
The Red Sox offense got the memo about how rough the game might be, and turned the game on its head early and often to come away with a gut-check victory.
Rafael Devers, Jarren Duran and Masataka Yoshida each hit a home run as Boston roughed up Orioles starter Corbin Burnes on the Red Sox’s way to a 10-10 victory inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards to even the four-game weekend set at one game apiece. Boston’s offense did enough to keep the Orioles at bay after a number of comebacks and set up Jansen for the ninth, and he delivered the only 1-2-3 inning of the evening for the Red Sox in earning his 23rd save.
While the Red Sox ended up being outhit by the Orioles, 17-13, the return of Boston slugger Triston Casas, back from a rib injury that has sidelined him since April, brought a much-needed jolt to an already-strong offense, leading to five players in the lineup getting at least two hits. Ten of those 14 hits on the night came off Burnes, who allowed eight earned runs as Boston forced him to his poorest performance of the season.
“I’ve seen a lot of these games. I’ve been in a lot of these games, and you just gotta slow it down mentally,” said Jansen. “You know that the momentum’s on both sides. It’s a crazy game, a high-scoring game. Everybody’s seeing the ball well. And for me, it’s just trying to mentally slow it down, and that’s what I did and got the 1-2-3.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Friday evening’s game, with photos taken by DC-area photographer Michael R. Smith. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 33 pictures in total.
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