Red Sox collect near season-high 23 hits, still fall to Orioles 13-12

Red Sox

Wilyer Abreu logged five hits for the Red Sox, including an RBI single to bring the team within one run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Despite eight out of nine starting batters collecting at least one hit on the night, the Red Sox dropped game two to the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park Saturday night.

Boston logged their second-most single-game hits this season with 23 in the loss (25 against the Houston Astros on Aug. 24). That marks the most-ever hits by the franchise in a nine-inning defeat. 

MLB teams accumulating at least 20 total hits in one game in 2023 were undefeated until Saturday.

Most notably, Red Sox center fielder Wilyer Abreu led the team with five hits in five at-bats. One of those hits was a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to bring Boston within one. He also drew one walk and drove in three runs to keep his squad within reach of the red-hot Orioles.

Abreu became the first MLB player since Kyle Schwarber in 2015 to record multiple four-plus hit contests in their first 12 career games. He also went 4-5 against the Astros on Aug. 24, the same game his team gathered their season-high in hits.

Other Boston sluggers with multiple hits in the defeat included Rafael Devers (4-6), Justin Turner (2-5, one walk), Masataka Yoshida (3-6), Trevor Story (3-6), Enmanuel Valdez (2-6), and Connor Wong (2-5). Turner got the Red Sox on the board in the bottom of the first inning with a golf swing of a two-run home run.

First baseman Triston Casas was the only Boston bat to go hitless Saturday. 

Orioles hitters, however, totaled 14 hits and 13 runs to pull off their seventh consecutive victory. In fact, they are the first team to win a game when allowing 23 hits or more since 1981. That contest also took place at Fenway, however, it took 20 innings to complete.

On the other hand, the last time the Red Sox lost a game in which they logged 20-plus hits came in 1960 against the Washington Senators.

Boston looks to avoid being swept at the hands of this 90-win Baltimore club at 1:35 EST on Sunday.