The Orioles turned one inning into the game on June 4, 2026, piling up six runs in the first and beating the Red Sox 8-2 in Boston. Bryan Bello was at the center of it, hit hard before settling down enough to at least keep the night from becoming even uglier.
For Boston, the first frame was over before the crowd could absorb it. Taylor Ward doubled on the leadoff pitch and later singled up the middle for his second hit of the inning, Brayan Bello hit Gunnar Henderson on the foot with a cutter, Adley Rutschman singled to the gap to drive in a run and Samuel Basallo walked. Leody Taveras then singled through the infield to score Henderson, Colton Cowser worked a walk to load the bases for Coby Mayo, and Cowser then drove a ball three-fourths of the way off The Monster to clear the bases. Jackson Holliday walked and Ward singled again, turning the first inning into an immediate rout.
That made the rest of the afternoon feel mostly like cleanup duty. Bello did manage to recover well enough to retire ten Orioles in a row after the first inning, a stretch that kept the final margin from getting even more lopsided. Trevor Rogers, meanwhile, gave Baltimore 5.2 one-run innings and carried a no-hitter into the fifth before allowing three straight singles and his first run in the sixth.
The contrast was stark for the Red Sox. Bello entered the day carrying a 9.68 ERA as a starter this season, though he had been far better in relief after an opener, when he had worked under 1.00. Rogers came in with his own struggles after a rough start to the year, but he looked nothing like that version for most of Wednesday, and Craig Albernaz pulled him for Yennier Cano after the sixth-inning damage.
Boston’s first-inning collapse left Chris Bassitt’s remark from the previous night hanging over the series as well: when a starter goes three innings and gives up three runs, he said, that is a recipe for disaster. Brian Roberts put it more bluntly after this one, saying it could have looked like a 0-0 game considering how the pitchers had worked since the opening burst. Instead, the Orioles left Boston with the series and a clean reminder of how fast a game can disappear when the first inning goes sideways.
What remains is Bello’s next start and whether this was a blowup that lingers or just another sharp split in a season that has already shown both sides of him. For one afternoon, though, the answer was simple: Baltimore found the strike zone first, hit the ball harder, and never had to look back.
