BOSTON — Tyler O’Neill hit a three-run homer to left field with one out in the 10th inning to give the Boston Red Sox a 5-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.
O’Neill connected off Keegan Akin (3-1) after Rafael Devers struck out and Romy Gonzalez joined automatic runner Jarren Duran on base when he reached on second baseman Jackson Holliday’s fielding error.
“That was awesome,” O’Neill said. “Obviously, late in the game, extra innings, you want to come up clutch for the team. I’m just trying to get the run in from third, first and foremost. I was able to put a good swing on that one, for sure.”
O’Neill has 30 homers this season. It was his second walk-off RBI this season and fifth overall.
“I wasn’t trying to get the groundball double play,” Akin said. “Just get an out, really. Like an infield popup, get a groundball. Obviously, a punchout would have been great. But yeah, obviously not that result.”
Baltimore fell 1 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East. Boston is four games behind Minnesota for the league’s last wild card.
Greg Weissert (4-2) got the victory after giving up Emmanuel Rivera’s RBI single in the bottom of the 10th.
“It’s huge,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We’ve been pitching, which is awesome, and hopefully at one point we start hitting again. Just grind out the game and we took advantage of one mistake and (O’Neill) put a good swing on it. We obviously needed this one, and hopefully it’s the beginning of something big.”
Playing the Red Sox for the final time in the regular season, the Orioles tied it at 2 with two outs in the eighth on Anthony Santander’s 41st homer, a shot to right off Justin Slaten.
Baltimore opened the scoring on Rivera’s leadoff homer in the third against Nick Pivetta. Boston tied it in the bottom of the inning against Dean Kremer, with Wilyer Abreu’s infield single and third baseman Rivera’s error allowing Duran to score.
“I thought we were really unlucky offensively the last third of the game,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “I thought we hit a lot of balls hard. Credit to them, they made some nice plays defensively, too. But they just got the big hit tonight.”
Boston took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on Cedanne Rafaela’s two-out single.
Pivetta went six innings, allowing a run on four hits and a walk with nine strikeouts.
Kremer threw seven innings. He gave up two runs — one earned — on five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: LHP Danny Coulombe, who had surgery June 18 to remove bone chips from his left elbow, made his first rehab appearance Wednesday, going one scoreless inning with a strikeout for Triple-A Norfolk.
Red Sox: LHP Brennan Bernardino was placed on the 15-day injured list because of inflammation in his pitching elbow. LHP Cam Booser was reinstated from the IL.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox open a four-game series at the New York Yankees on Thursday night. Boston RHP Cooper Criswell (6-4, 4.11 ERA) is scheduled to start against LHP Nestor Cortes (9-10, 3.97). The Orioles will begin a three-game series in Detroit on Friday night.
