BALTIMORE -- Defense was a key factor when the Baltimore Orioles won the American League East title last year.

Center fielder Adam Jones and the Orioles came through with their gloves Wednesday, a big reason Baltimore won its third consecutive game.

Shortstop J.J. Hardy drove in two runs, and Jones knocked in a run and made three spectacular plays as Baltimore beat the Boston Red Sox 5-2.

The Orioles (28-30) improved to 5-1 in their past six games as the combination of defense and a solid bullpen proved too much for the struggling Red Sox (27-33).

Jones and left fielder Travis Snider each threw out a Boston runner at second in the second.

Jones then made a leaping catch off center fielder Mookie Betts' line drive to end that inning. In the fifth, Jones raced over and made a diving grab of a Betts shot to right-center.

"We have been one of the top defensive teams in baseball the last few years, so it's of the utmost importance," Jones said. "Our pitching was the key tonight. Put us in a good situation to get the tempo up. You can make good plays when your tempo is up."

The bullpen came up with a second straight solid effort.

Right-handers Tommy Hunter and Darren O'Day each pitched two innings and combined to retire all 12 Red Sox batters. O'Day earned his second save.

The Baltimore bullpen has allowed just one hit over 8 2/3 innings in the first two games of the three-game series despite being short-handed because of left-hander Brian Matusz's suspension.

Orioles relievers threw 4 2/3 shutout innings Tuesday in a 1-0 victory, giving up just one hit.

"We're short a man, so we're all going to be extended a little bit," O'Day said. "We've all gone multiple innings before. We've done it many times, so we're capable of doing it, and (manager) Buck (Showalter) is doing a good job of managing us."

The bullpen backed up Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen (2-4), who ended a three-game losing streak by working through five-plus innings. The left-hander gave up two runs on seven hits.

Boston hit the ball hard several times against Chen, but the defense helped him, and he made enough good pitches for his first win at home since Sept. 15.

"I thought we had a number of really good at-bats against Chen," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "It was deep at-bats. It was a number of hard-hit balls that they made some good defensive plays on. We weren't able to bunch some hits together."

Boston tried to jump ahead in the second, but the Baltimore defense stopped that. Jones threw out shortstop Xander Bogaerts at second trying to stretch a single, and Snider did the same when third baseman Pablo Sandoval tried for a double one batter later.

Jones ended the inning with his first notable catch against Betts, and the Orioles took the lead for good in the bottom half of the inning.

First baseman Chris Davis dropped a bunt down the third base line against the Boston shift. He reached on a single and was later forced out, but the Orioles eventually got an RBI double from Hardy plus second baseman Ryan Flaherty's RBI single to go up 2-0.

The Red Sox cut the lead in half when left fielder Brock Holt lined an RBI double to left in the top of the third. Jones answered with an RBI single in the bottom of that inning, a slow ground ball that rolled through the drawn-in Red Sox infield and gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead.

Boston first baseman Mike Napoli cut it to 3-2 on a forceout in the top of the sixth, but the Orioles broke it open with two runs in the bottom half thanks to an RBI single from Snider and Hardy's sacrifice fly.

Boston starter Rick Porcello (4-6) gave up five runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings and took his fourth consecutive loss.

"I actually felt like I threw the ball pretty well up to the sixth inning," Porcello said. "Two leadoff guys get