Red Sox 5, Orioles 1: Boston completes the sweep

BALTIMORE — Chris Sale was nearly unhittable. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez each hit solo home runs. Andrew Benintendi reached base safely four times and came around to score in the fifth inning.

If there is an almost certain winning formula for the Red Sox, this is it.

The fact that Boston was playing against the woeful Orioles at Camden Yards only made things easier on Wednesday afternoon. The Red Sox closed out a second series sweep of Baltimore this season with [...]

BALTIMORE — Chris Sale was nearly unhittable. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez each hit solo home runs. Andrew Benintendi reached base safely four times and came around to score in the fifth inning.

If there is an almost certain winning formula for the Red Sox, this is it.

The fact that Boston was playing against the woeful Orioles at Camden Yards only made things easier on Wednesday afternoon. The Red Sox closed out a second series sweep of Baltimore this season with a 5-1 victory.

Boston has now won nine of its 10 meetings with the Orioles this season and 12 of 13 dating back to 2017. The Red Sox will have gone more than 13 months without losing at this ballpark by the time they make a return trip in late July. Baltimore is already 29 games under .500 and appears to have no hope of escaping the American League East basement anytime soon.

“Sweeps are big,” Sale said. “They really are. Everyone likes to talk about games at the end of the year — August and September, all that stuff — but the games right now count just as much.”

“Our division is tough,” Betts said. “To come in and sweep a ballclub is huge.”

It was the ninth start this season in which Sale allowed one earned run or less, as the left-hander snapped his personal three-game losing streak. Singles by Danny Valencia and Trey Mancini were all the Orioles had to show in six-plus innings against Sale, with Brandon Workman conceding an inherited run on a Jace Peterson sacrifice fly in the seventh.

“I felt good,” Sale said. “I felt loose. Just feel like I’ve got some good rhythm and tempo going right now.”

Sale was issued his second career ejection by home plate umpire Brian Knight, that coming after he was already removed from the game. Sale had walked the first two hitters in the seventh, raising his pitch count to 109 and forcing Boston manager Alex Cora to bring Workman out of his taxed bullpen. The right-hander combined with Justin Haley to record the final nine outs, with Haley tossing two scoreless innings in his first big league appearance since May 2017.

“I like competing, and I feel like when something is getting taken away from me I get pretty emotional,” Sale said.

Betts came off the disabled list Monday, had a day off Tuesday and looked like his old self on Wednesday. He crushed a one-out solo homer to the bleachers in right-center, giving Boston a 1-0 lead in the third, before manufacturing a run with his legs in the fifth. Betts drew a one-out walk, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored when Xander Bogaerts lifted a sacrifice fly to right.

“I’m almost not even impressed by most of the things he does anymore,” Sale said. “He’s an unbelievable ballplayer. There’s nothing I can say here that’s going to be new to anybody.”

“The quality of the at-bats, they’re incredible,” Cora said. “From not playing for two weeks and being able to lay off some pitches on the edges of the strike zone, the guy’s talented.”

That was the inning where the Red Sox finally gained some separation, knocking Orioles right-hander Yefry Ramirez out of his big league debut. Rafael Devers and Eduardo Nunez stung back-to-back RBI singles against reliever Mike Wright Jr., who allowed both of his inherited runners to score.

Wright was also tagged with two runs of his own, the second coming on one swing from Martinez in the seventh. An 0-and-2 fastball at the shoulders wasn’t safe, as Martinez cracked one to the bleachers in right. It was the slugger’s 22nd round-tripper of the season, as he continues to keep pace with Angels outfielder Mike Trout atop the majors.

— bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25