BALTIMORE (AP) — Ty Wigginton and Matt Wieters homered in a six-run fifth inning against Daisuke Matsuzaka, and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Boston Red Sox 12-9 Saturday night to win their first series of the season.

The teams combined for nine home runs, including two apiece by Wigginton and Boston’s David Ortiz.

Matsuzaka (0-1) gave up seven runs, six earned, and seven hits in 4 2-3 innings. The right-hander was making his season debut after spending a month on the disabled list with a neck strain.

Wigginton also connected in the sixth against Tim Wakefield, who ended a string of 162 consecutive starts with his first relief appearance since June 9, 2004. The knuckleballer yielded five runs in 2 1-3 innings.

Nick Markakis went 3 for 4 with a homer and five RBIs for the Orioles, who also beat the Red Sox on Friday night in the series that concludes Sunday. The two-game winning streak matches Baltimore’s longest of the season, accomplished once previously.

Brad Bergesen (1-2) gave up four runs in five innings for the Orioles, who improved to 3-2 against the Red Sox after going 2-16 against Boston in 2009. The last time Baltimore won a series from the Red Sox was a two-game sweep on May 13-14, 2008.

Ortiz had his 35th career multihomer game, and Jonathan Van Every and Kevin Youkilis also connected for Boston. All three of Ortiz’s homers this season have come against the Orioles.

Matsuzaka took a one-hitter and a 4-1 lead into the fifth before everything unraveled. After Wigginton hit a solo homer, Adam Jones and Markakis delivered two-out RBI singles before Wieters hit an opposite-field, three-run drive to left.

In the sixth, Wigginton hit a leadoff homer and Markakis added a three-run shot for an 11-4 lead.

Boston got four runs back in the seventh when Victor Martinez hit a two-run single and Youkilis followed with his fourth home run.

Luke Scott homered in the bottom half, and Ortiz hit a towering drive in the eighth to get Boston to 12-9. Cla Meredith then got three straight outs, and Alfredo Simon worked the ninth for his second save.

Down 1-0, Boston bounced back against Bergesen, who was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the day. Ortiz tied it in the second with a drive to right, and Van Every hit his second career homer in the third.

Boston used RBI doubles by J.D. Drew and Adrian Beltre to make it 4-1 in the fourth.

NOTES: Bergesen has yielded six homers in four starts this year compared to 11 in 19 starts in 2009. … Boston OF Jeremy Hermida sat out the game with a strained left quadriceps. “It just knotted up on me,” he said. “It’s not too bad.” … The Orioles optioned RHP Jim Johnson to Triple-A Norfolk to make room for Bergesen. … Boston’s run of three straight series wins ended.

Copy the Story Link