Ceddanne Rafaela's clutch homer leads Red Sox over Orioles

Ceddanne Rafaela drilled a two-run homer in the ninth to lift the visiting Boston Red Sox to a 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.

Rafaela's 15th homer came off Keegan Akin after Jarren Duran reached on a leadoff single.

The Red Sox have won six of seven games on their road trip and go for a four-game series sweep Thursday afternoon. Greg Weissert (6-4) tossed a scoreless eighth and Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the ninth for his 26th save.

Roman Anthony homered for the Red Sox as the game's first batter, but the offense never got going again until the ninth. Duran, Rafaela and David Hamilton had two hits apiece.

Dylan Carlson drove in a go-ahead run with a seventh-inning double and Baltimore received clutch pitching from Roansy Contreras in his Orioles debut. Akin (4-4), who escaped an eighth-inning threat, suffered his sixth blown save.

Dylan Beavers had two hits, including a run-scoring double, for the Orioles.

Boston starter Brayan Bello was charged with two runs (one earned) in 6 2/3 innings. He allowed five hits and one walk while fanning six.

Dietrich Enns, used in an opener's role for Baltimore, struck out three and gave up two hits and Anthony's leadoff homer over 2 2/3 innings. Contreras followed with 4 1/3 shutout innings, giving up three hits and one walk with two strikeouts.

Contreras left with runners on the corners with no outs in the eighth. Akin struck out Anthony and Alex Bregman before Trevor Story grounded into a fielder's choice.

Anthony has seven home runs this year, including two this series when leading off games. Both of those homers came on the fifth pitch of the game.

Baltimore's first run was unearned because Coby Mayo reached on a two-out, second-inning single and advanced to second on a passed ball before Beavers' RBI double.

Carlson's double in the eighth off Justin Wilson drove in Beavers, who drew a two-out walk as the final batter to face Bello.

--Field Level Media