BALTIMORE -- The combination of Alec Asher's pitching plus the power of Seth Smith and Manny Machado helped the Baltimore Orioles win their third straight game Friday night.

Smith and Machado each hit solo home runs in the first inning, and starter Asher threw 6 1/3 solid innings as the Orioles defeated the Boston Red Sox 3-2 on Friday night.

Smith homered to lead off the first, and Machado added a 465-foot blast, No. 11 of the season, two batters later which gave Asher and the Orioles (29-24) an early 2-0 lead. That proved to be enough for the right-hander, who is trying to earn the No. 5 spot in the rotation.

"He had a lot of pitches working," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Asher. "I was really impressed (with) that. He got right back into the fight and did a big job for us tonight."

Asher (2-3) allowed two runs on just three hits. He struck out five without a walk and left to a standing ovation in the seventh.

The right-hander bounced back after allowing six runs on six hits in just two innings and taking the loss last Sunday against the Astros in Houston. This was his second start since getting the chance to take Ubaldo Jimenez's spot in the rotation.

Asher said his shaky effort versus the Astros gave him some motivation for this start, and that certainly paid off. It has likely earned him another chance to start, too.

"Obviously, you don't want to have bad outings back to back," Asher said. "You kind of want to jump back on the wagon. It's nice to rebound and have a good game. But we win the games, that's the No. 1 goal."

Asher retired 16 of the first 17 batters he faced and did not pitch from the stretch until the sixth inning when Sandy Leon singled.

The only batter who reached before that was Pablo Sandoval, who clubbed a solo home run. Jackie Bradley Jr. also drove in a run for Boston (29-25).

"Give credit to Asher; we had one baserunner through five innings," Boston manager John Farrell said. "He pitched all four quadrants of the plate in the strike zone. He pitched to the scouting report, and when we did hit anything hard, it was right at somebody."

Mychal Givens relieved Asher with one out in the seventh and allowed an RBI single to Bradley but got the final two outs. The third out came when catcher Caleb Joseph threw out Bradley attempting to steal second.

Darren O'Day took care of Boston in the eighth before Brad Brach closed it, earning his 11th save.

Asher outdueled Boston starter Rick Porcello (3-7), whose struggles continue this season after winning the American League Cy Young Award last season. Porcello allowed those two homers and three runs overall on eight hits in six innings, which he needed 118 pitches to get through.

Porcello labored through a 31-pitch first inning, which proved costly, especially with the two homers he allowed.

"I felt better as the game went on, but it's definitely not the way you want to start a ballgame," Porcello said. "That kind of set the tone, so I've got to be better early."

After the Orioles took the early 2-0 lead, the Red Sox cut the lead in half on the Sandoval homer in the top of the third.

The Orioles answered in the fourth when Jonathan Schoop singled with one out and scored on a Hyun Soo Kim double, making it 3-1.

Boston added one run in the seventh, on the Bradley RBI single, but the Orioles held on after that.

NOTES: Baltimore 3B Manny Machado's first-inning homer went into the second deck, the first player to hit one there at Camden Yards since Mark Reynolds on Aug. 7, 2011 versus the Toronto Blue Jays. ... LF Hyun Soo Kim's run-scoring double for the Orioles gave him his first RBI since April 24. ... Boston RHP Craig Kimbrel was named as the AL Reliever of the Month on Friday. He finished 7-for-7 in save opportunities in May. ... Red Sox LHP Eduardo Rodriguez, who started Thursday for the Red Sox, was placed on the disabled list (right knee subluxation). RHP Brandon Workman was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket.