BOSTON _ Alex Cobb knew the Boston Red Sox would present a difficult challenge in his season debut Saturday, but the Orioles right-hander was confident he had done everything he could over the season's first few weeks to be ready for the American League's most productive lineup.
Cobb had history on his side _ a track record of success against the Red Sox and at Fenway Park _ but his preparation for the season after signing with the Orioles in the final week of spring training marked uncharted territory.
Cobb wasn't just rusty in his Orioles debut. He struggled mightily, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on 11 base runners in just 32/3 innings in a 10-3 loss to the Red Sox. It was a dubious start for Cobb, who faced nothing comparable to a big-league lineup in four tune-up outings _ three simulated games and an extended spring game _ let alone a Boston batting order that has allowed few pitching mistakes go unpunished in the first two games of this four-game series at Fenway Park.
He allowed eight runs in an outing shorter than four innings just once in 29 starts last season with the Tampa Bay Rays. So the performance was a rarity for a starting pitcher with a resume of success in the American League East, which was among the main reasons the Orioles signed Cobb to a club-record four-year, $57 million deal on March 21.
But Cobb didn't look ready to face major league hitters, struggling to locate his two-seam fastball as it sailed up in the zone while hanging his splitter and curveball too often. Of the 16 split-fingered fastballs Cobb threw, the Red Sox had five hits and put 11 in play.
Cobb was among the top 10 starters in the AL last season in fewest homers allowed per nine innings (1.1, 10th). But he yielded two home runs Saturday, including a two-run blast by Hanley Ramirez over the Green Monster in left field that capped a three-run first inning. Last season, Cobb allowed multiple homers in just seven of his 29 starts.
A career 5-1 record and 3.15 ERA at Fenway Park coming into the day didn't carry over for Cobb. His afternoon started poorly, from the six-pitch walk he issued to Boston leadoff man Mookie Betts in the first inning. Andrew Benintendi followed by yanking a 2-1 splitter off the Green Monster to score Betts, and Ramirez took a 2-2 splitter over the high wall in left to hand the Orioles a 3-0 deficit.
With one out in the third, Cobb started J.D. Martinez off with a curveball inside for a ball, then threw another that hung over the plate and Martinez sent it the opposite way into the Red Sox bullpen in right field.
Things quickly unraveled for Cobb in the fourth. Catcher Sandy Leon opened the inning with a single and two batters later, No. 9 hitter Tzu-Wei Lin singled. Benintendi then took Cobb's first-pitch delivery into right field for a two-run single, then scored on Ramirez's double off the Green Monster in left.
Moments after Ramirez's double gave the Red Sox a 7-0 lead, Orioles manager Buck Showalter hopped out of the third base dugout to end Cobb's day. An eighth run _ albeit unearned _ would be charged to Cobb when Manny Machado committed a throwing error and Ramirez scored again with Miguel Castro on the mound.
