Red Sox 5, Orioles 3

 

Someone just hit the "reset" button. The Boston Red Sox, after a historically bad start to the season, fired coach Alex Cora and a bunch of his assistant coaches, and they're ready to start over. Think of it this way - the real season started today, April 26, and they spotted the New York Yankees a seven-game lead just to make things more interesting.

Chad Tracy of the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox is assuming the interim coach role. To welcome him to the majors, the Red Sox beat Baltimore for back-to-back victories for only the fourth time this season. Willson Contreras hit his sixth home run of the season, and Ceddanne Rafaela, Marcelo Mayer, and Andruw Monasterio also had RBI hits. 

Connelly Early allowed two runs in 6⅔ innings, striking out four. Zach Kelly retired the last batter of the seventh inning and Garrett Whitlock allowed a run in the eighth. Aroldis Chapman worked a perfect ninth for his fifth save. Chapman now has 1,341 career strikeouts, passing Goose Gossage for second place as MLB's all-time leader among relievers. He's 23 strikeouts away from passing Hoyt Wilhelm, who played from 1952 to 1972.

The Sox are 11-17 and trail the Blue Jays (12-15) by a game and a half. They head to Toronto next for a three-game series against the Jays and can potentially pass them in the standings with a few wins. Ranger Suarez (1-2, 4.00) will take the mound for Boston against Dylan Cease (1-0, 2.10), who has yet to give up his first home runs after 25⅔ innings. First pitch is scheduled for 7:07 pm.