Alejandro De Aza hit two homers, Adam Jones added another and the Baltimore Orioles won for the 10th time in 13 games with a 4-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.
Chris Tillman (12-5) gave up one run in five innings, his 18th straight start in which he allowed three earned runs or fewer. Zach Britton pitched the ninth for his 34th save in 38 opportunities.
The first-place Orioles maintained their 10-game lead in the AL East over the Toronto Blue Jays, who beat the Chicago Cubs 9-2. The New York Yankees fell 11 games behind Baltimore after losing to the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3.
Last-place Boston is a season-high 22 1/2 games out of first one year after winning the World Series.
The three homers increased Baltimore’s major league-leading total to 191 and came off rookie Anthony Ranaudo (3-2). He left after allowing four runs and six hits in 3 1-3 innings.
Red Sox relievers Drake Britton, Burke Badenhop and Matt Barnes, making his major league debut, gave up four hits the rest of the way.
The Orioles led 2-0 before making an out. Nick Markakis led off the first inning with a walk before De Aza homered into the Red Sox bullpen in right field.
Baltimore began the third with back-to-back homers by De Aza, his seventh of the season, and Jones, his 25th.
Boston’s run came in the fourth on Xander Bogaerts’ 10th homer.
The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out in the fifth on a walk to Christian Vazquez and singles by Mookie Betts and Daniel Nava. But David Ortiz grounded into a double play. That ended the night for Tillman, who improved to 8-0 on the road this season.
Boston put runners at first and second with two outs in the seventh on a single by Carlos Rivero, his first career hit, and a walk to Betts. But lefty Andrew Miller, sent by the Red Sox to the Orioles at the July 31 trade deadline, came in and struck out righty pinch-hitter Allen Craig, who batted for lefty Nava after Nava had walked, singled and doubled in his three at-bats.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: SS J.J. Hardy missed his fourth straight game with lower back spasms. No structural damage was found Tuesday during his visit to the team orthopedist in Baltimore, where he had an MRI and a cortisone injection in his back. Manager Buck Showalter hopes Hardy can play Friday when the Orioles face the New York Yankees in a doubleheader.
Red Sox: Dustin Pedroia sat out with soreness in his left wrist and left hand, and manager John Farrell said the 2B could miss the rest of the season. … Brock Holt missed his fourth straight game because of illness and is expected to replace Pedroia in the field once he is healthy. … 3B Will Middlebrooks left with an illness in the sixth and was replaced by Rivero.
UP NEXT
The Orioles go for a sweep of the three-game series Wednesday night when they send Wei-Yin Chen (14-4) to the mound against Brandon Workman (1-8).
Chen is 2-2 with a 5.79 ERA in six starts at Boston. Workman allowed one hit in 6 2-3 innings on June 10 in his only career start against Baltimore.