Major League Baseball
Boston 7, Baltimore 0
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, September 25, 2015
Where: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Temperature: 63°
Umpires: Home - Jim Joyce, 1B - Greg Gibson, 2B - Carlos Torres, 3B - Chad Fairchild
Attendance: 32411

BOSTON – New Boston president Dave Dombrowski watches each game looking for players who might be pieces on the 2016 Red Sox.

Don't look now, but Rich Hill might turn out to be one of those pieces.

The rather amazing resurgence of the 35-year-old left-hander continued at Fenway Park on Friday night -- and ended with a rather amazing play as the Red Sox ended their three-game losing and Baltimore's three-game winning streak with a 7-0 win over the Orioles.

Hill, who hails from nearby Milton, Ma., and is beginning his second tour with his hometown team – this time as a starter – pitched a two-hitter for his second major league shutout. It was his first shutout in almost nine years and Boston's first since Aug. 31, 2014.

"I'm older and I've been able to hone my skills, I guess from the last five years, and get stronger, get into a good lifting program," Hill said. "Each piece of the pie kind of fits together."

The game ended when right fielder Mookie Betts, twice injured trying to make heroic wall catches this season, robbed first baseman Chris Davis of what would have been his 44th homer of the season with a man on.

"That was a lot of fun. That was great," Hill said. "What a catch by Mookie, unbelievable. I thought it was actually in the seats. I thought it was a little deeper."

Said interim manager Torey Lovullo: "Nothing is better than a complete-game shutout. The catch was a close second. It was scripted in an unbelievable way to end the game the way it did."

Hill, who had last started in the major leagues in 2009 and last pitched a shutout for the Chicago Cubs in 2006, allowed a single to center fielder Nolan Reimold leading off the game and a leadoff infield single to right fielder Dariel Alvarez in the ninth. He retired 16 straight batters after the opening single and, for the third straight time struck out 10 batters.

He became the first pitcher since 1900 to make his debut in September or later and have 10-strikeout games in each of his first three starts of that season.

Hill (2-0, 1.17 ERA) allowed one hit and no runs in his first start and three runs in seven innings in his second. He has 30 strikeouts and two walks in 23 innings.

"This summer a lot of things kind of fell into place," Hill said. "For me, it was stay in that moment and make that pitch the best that I can. When I was younger and starting, I didn't think I was as apt to understand pitching."

Designated hitter David Ortiz collected three doubles and three RBIs, and shortstop Xander Bogaerts also had three hits, with an RBI and two runs scored.

The loss dealt a blow to the Orioles' long-shot wild card hopes. They came into the game 11-4 in their last 15 and started play 3 1/2 games out of the second American League wild-card slot and fell to 76-77.

"He has a big huge curveball and has a fastball that comes out of the same slot," Baltimore catcher Caleb Joseph said of Hill. "You don't see many of those hammer curveballs anymore, and he's got it. Really good performance tonight. He's a veteran and knows how to pitch."

Ortiz's two-run double highlighted a three-run sixth inning – a play that saw second baseman Dustin Pedroia and Bogaerts round third almost at the same time before both scored, a second apart.

Bogaerts, who had three hits a night after his 12-game hitting streak ended, had doubled home a run off loser Kevin Gausman (3-7) in the third inning, and Brock Holt doubled home the third run of the sixth. Holt added an RBI infield single in the eighth for the last-place Red Sox (73-80).

"We can't throw in the towel now just because we lost," Joseph said.

NOTES: A day after the Red Sox hired Mike Hazen as their new general manager, the club brought in former Atlanta Braves GM Frank Wren to serve as vice president of baseball operations and also named Brad Pearson head athletic trainer and Paul Buchheit as his assistant. New president Dave Dombrowski said he hopes to retain Jerry Dipoto as an adviser. ... Baltimore CF Adam Jones missed his fourth straight game with back spasms but was close to a return. ... LHP Zach Britton (left lat muscle) threw in the bullpen Friday and could return Saturday after missing less than a week. ... Veteran LHP Craig Breslow will make his first major league start when he faces Baltimore LHP Wei-Yin Chen on Saturday -- while Ubaldo Jimenez starts Sunday for the Orioles. ... Showalter said he was satisfied with the three-game suspension received by Washington's Jonathan Papelbon for throwing at Manny Machado. "I'm comfortable with the action they took," he said. "I'm not comfortable with the action (of Papelbon) "I'm comfortable with the action they took."
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Baltimore   Boston
Kevin Gausman Player Rich Hill
Loss W/L Win
5.0 IP 9.0
5 Strikeouts 10
5 Hits 2
9.00 ERA 0.00
Hitting
Baltimore   Boston
Dariel Alvarez Player Xander Bogaerts
1 Hits 3
0 RBI 1
0 HR 0
1 TB 4
.333 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Baltimore 2 0 2 .069 7 10 0 1 0 0
Boston 9 0 14 .290 10 10 6 3 0 1