BOSTON _ Spot starter Alec Asher, taking the ball for the second time this year for the Orioles, only had a few hiccups en route to another quality start, but he didn't leave Tuesday night's game with much else to show for his efforts.
A pair of mammoth home runs by Boston's veteran slugger, designated hitter Hanley Ramirez, spoiled his chance at a victory and the Orioles ended up losing, 5-2.
Asher left after six strong innings trailing 3-2, with the run that kept him in the running to pick up a loss coming on a mammoth home run that inning by Ramirez over the Green Monster _ his second homer of the night.
The first, which opened the fourth inning, extended a Boston lead that was built in a rocky second inning for the young right-hander.
First baseman Mitch Moreland doubled off the left-field wall with one out and scored on a single by second baseman Dustin Pedroia.
Asher then issued his only walk of the day, and things looked like they had the potential to get out of hand, but he wiggled out of trouble and only really got into one other jam outside of the home runs to Ramirez.
With Chris Tillman making what is expected to be his final rehab start Tuesday in Norfolk, Asher may not take the next turn through the rotation when his spot comes up again this weekend.
But if he ends up out of the rotation, he'll take with him a pair of quality starts against tough division opponents _ the Toronto Blue Jays and Red Sox _ on the road, even if he didn't have any wins to show for it.
Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale continued a dominant start to his season with a jaw-dropping start to the game against the Orioles. He struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced, and retired the first 13 Orioles he faced before a walk by first baseman Chris Davis in the fourth inning.
Sale allowed just two runs on three hits in eight innings.
One of those runs came on another towering home run by third baseman Manny Machado, his second in two games at Fenway Park, that cleared the Green Monster.
Just like Monday, when he was booed terribly by the home fans, he had reason to be extra-motivated. In the first inning, Sale threw a fastball behind his legs and earned warnings for both teams.
