BALTIMORE _ Last week, Red Sox starter Rick Porcello allowed a run against the Orioles at Fenway Park and left a loser. Monday at Camden Yards, boasting the same arsenal that has made him a leading contender for the American League Cy Young, Porcello never even flirted with another loss.
Home runs by right fielder Mookie Betts and designated hitter David Ortiz _ both longtime Orioles scourges in Boston's lineup _ plus Porcello's mastery helped the Red Sox to a 5-2 win that dropped the Orioles four games behind the division leaders with 11 games to play.
Betts' two-run home run off Orioles starter Dylan Bundy, his eighth of the season at Camden Yards, set the game in motion toward the visitors. Bundy was made to work for every out.
After an RBI single by second baseman Dustin Pedroia in the fifth inning, the home run by Ortiz sealed a miserable day for Bundy.
He threw a career-high 99 pitches, but allowed five runs for the third time in five starts to see his ERA jump to 4.13.
Porcello had no such troubles, with the first run off him coming after he hit third baseman Manny Machado in the shoulder with two outs in the fourth inning. Machado scored on a line-drive double off the right field wall by designated hitter Mark Trumbo. Center fielder Adam Jones' 28th home run of the season, hit with two outs in the eighth inning, was the last bit of consolation for the Orioles.
Singles by left fielder Hyun Soo Kim and second baseman Jonathan Schoop represented the Orioles' only other hits.
