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Papi’s blast lowers Sox’s magic number
- Updated: September 21, 2016
BALTIMORE — David Ortiz is making his last series in Baltimore something special.
Ortiz, who addressed the media about his final visit to Camden Yards prior to Tuesday’s game, homered for the second time in as many games to propel the first-place Red Sox to a 5-2 victory over the Orioles.
Ortiz’s three-run homer, which ended starter Baltimore starter Kevin Gausman’s night in the seventh inning, was his 36th of the year and gives him 121 RBIs. The Sox lead the Blue Jays by 4 1/2 games in the American League East, pending the outcome of their game Tuesday night in Seattle, and the O’s are five games back. Baltimore, which entered the day tied for the AL Wild Card with Toronto, has now lost four of its last six games. Boston’s magic number to win the division is down to eight.
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“I think there’s growing confidence in our clubhouse daily,” said Red Sox manager John Farrell. “We’ve responded to a number of challenges, whether it’s on the road, whether it’s coming from behind in big ballgames in the division, those are key. When you achieve those or succeed in those, yeah, that’s a snowball effect that takes place. To balance that out, no one is taking anything for granted.”
Leading that tunnel-vision approach is Ortiz, who again came through with a game-breaking home run.
“He’s a tough hitter, so I was trying to switch things up, go down and away. Was kind of going at him with fastballs in and fastballs up,” Gausman said of Ortiz. “The second at-bat, I was trying to throw him a lot of splitters. I was trying to throw that pitch off the plate, and hoping he’d kind of go after it, but obviously he’s the hitter he is because he can do that with pitches like that.”
Gausman, who posted a 0.82 ERA in his previous five starts, was charged with five runs on 10 hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings. The Orioles’ first run came from Trey Mancini, who homered off Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez in his Major League debut. Mancini delivered a solo blast in the fifth inning.
Rodriguez turned in a strong performance for the win — his first since July 16 — allowing four hits and a run while striking out seven over 6 1/3 innings.
“When you are capable to stop the Baltimore offense, that means you’ve got good stuff,” Ortiz said of Rodriguez. “Those guys can swing the bat. We know what we’ve got in [Rodriguez].”
MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDOrtiz makes more history: When Ortiz’s drive to center cleared the wall, it put the slugger in the record books. The 36 homers are the most by a player in his final season, surpassing Dave Kingman, who belted 35 in …
