With the two worst teams in the American League facing off, it’s no surprise it was close, or that the edge went to Birds who sit on wires and not Sox who get flung over them.
Neither team got two runners on in an inning until the sixth, and the only runner in scoring position came in the Baltimore first when Jackson Holiday got hit by as pitch and stole second. Will Venable’s strategy of using Jared Shuster as an opener worked, and after he tossed an inning and a batter Sean Burke followed up strong through the fifth.