Triston Casas hit a three-run home run to help the Boston Red Sox avoid a three-game sweep by beating the visiting Baltimore Orioles 7-3 Sunday.
The Red Sox (73-70) trailed 3-0 after two innings, but took a 7-3 lead when Casas hit his 24th home run of the season in the sixth inning. The homer came against Baltimore reliever Cole Irvin.
Boston also ended a four-game losing streak and a six-game slide at home.
Baltimore, which entered riding a seven-game winning streak, saw its lead over Tampa Bay shrink in the American League East. The Orioles (90-52) lead the second-place Rays by three games. Tampa Bay beat Seattle 6-3 earlier Sunday.
Baltimore won the first two games of the series, 11-2 on Friday and 13-12 on Saturday.
Brayan Bello (12-8) pitched five innings on Sunday to earn the win. He allowed three runs on seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
Baltimore starter Grayson Rodriguez (5-4) was pulled with one out in the fifth and took the loss. He gave up four runs (two earned) on seven hits, struck out six and walked two.
The Orioles did all of their scoring in the second inning, which included an RBI single by Aaron Hicks, and a triple from Adam Frazier that drove in Cedric Mullins and Hicks.
Boston scored two unearned runs in the third when a two-out fielding error by third baseman Ramon Urias allowed Rafael Devers and Justin Turner to score and make it a 3-2 game.
The Red Sox added two more runs in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead. Luis Urias doubled and scored on Reese McGuire’s triple, and then McGuire scored on an infield single by Devers.
Rookie Ceddanne Rafaela started in center field for Boston. Rafaela, who was promoted to the majors last month, started in two games for the Red Sox before Sunday, both at shortstop.
Rafaela and Devers were on base when Casas homered in the sixth.
—Field Level Media
