April 30

Watkins pitches for Baltimore against Eovaldi. Trevor Story hits a ground-rule double to right-center on the first pitch of the evening. Hopefully the Sox will pick that up and more early, since clearly they have to do a lot at a time for a win to be a comfortable one these days. He moves to third on a groundout and scores on Bogaerts’ single through the drawn-in infield and into center to make it 1-0 Sox. A walk puts two on with two out, but a pop out ends the inning, something the Sox will regret. Eovaldi shuts down the Orioles early. After the rough first inning, Watkins buckles down and gets through the Boston lineup easily. The Sox look to end that run by putting two on with two out in the top of the fifth, but a pop out wastes a golden opportunity to expand the lead. Eovaldi finally gives up a double in the bottom of the sixth, ending his bid to be the first Red Sox pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Jon Lester in 2008 and the first righty pitcher to throw a no-no for Boston since Clay Buchholz in 2007. Oddly enough, Buchholz’s no-hitter was also against the Orioles. The Sox put runners at the corners with two out in the top of the seventh but strand them as a groundout ends the inning. The Sox have been leaving a lot of men on base of late. They really need to get better at this. If they can’t capitalize against the lowly Orioles, how do they expect to do it against the Yankees or the Astros when they arrive? They’ve left eight men as of the end of the seventh. This should be a rout.

Two singles lead off the bottom of the seventh. They move into scoring position with two out on a wild pitch, but a strikeout ends the inning as Eovaldi escapes with the lead and ends his superb night on a high note. Mullins doubles to left with two out in the bottom of the eighth and scores on Santander’s single up the middle as the Orioles tie the game at 1-1 late. This is what I meant when I said that Boston would regret their not adding insurance. This means that Eovaldi is out of the decision. Even though he pitched like it was a playoff game, he was not in the game when the tying run was scored. The game goes to extra innings. Jaylin Davis is the runner at second to start the top of the tenth. He moves to third on a groundout. A walk puts runners at the corners with two out, but a groundout ends the inning. McKenna is the man at second. An intentional walk starts the frame, putting two on. What should have been a sacrifice bunt goes awry when Sawamura throws the ball down the third-base line instead of to the bag, which allows McKenna to score the winning run. 2-1 F/10. Of course the Orioles would end their five-game slup against Boston. Why wouldn’t they? At the end of April, the Sox are 9-13, fourth in the AL East, 6.5 games out of the lead held by the Yankees.