Baltimore Orioles vs Boston Red Sox Box Score on Jul 25, 2020

Alex Cobb pitched 5 1/3 masterful innings in his first start in well over a year as the Baltimore Orioles exacted a measure of revenge with a 7-2 win over the host Boston Red Sox on Saturday afternoon.

Beaten 13-2 in the season opener Friday, the Orioles jumped to a five-run advantage after two innings and held on. The right-handed Cobb (1-0) limited the Red Sox to a run on four hits and no walks, striking out six. The Boston native had last pitched April 26, 2019, making only three starts last season before undergoing hip surgery.

Hanser Alberto had three hits, and Austin Hays and Jose Iglesias added two apiece to lead the Orioles offense, and Renato Nunez and Anthony Santander each drove in a pair of runs.

Mitch Moreland hit the first home run of the season for the Red Sox, and Alex Verdugo went 3-for-4 in his highly anticipated team debut. Rafael Devers struck out four times.

Baltimore wasted no time roughing up left-hander Martin Perez in his first outing for Boston. Perez put the first two men he faced on and got two outs before a Nunez two-run double and Devers' error on a Pedro Severino grounder to third gave the Orioles a 3-0 lead.

Baltimore upped its advantage to 5-0 on back-to-back run-scoring singles from Alberto and Iglesias in the second, as the Red Sox bullpen stirred. But Perez (0-1) settled down, going five innings with the five runs allowed (four earned) on six hits.

Cobb kept cruising until Moreland lined a solo shot to right with one out in the sixth. After scratching across another run, the Red Sox sent pinch-hitter Xander Bogaerts to the plate with a chance to tie and two outs in the inning, but Miguel Castro came on to record the strikeout on three pitches.

Baltimore quenched any further hopes of a rally with Santander's two-out, two-run double for a 7-2 margin in the seventh.

--Field Level Media