BALTIMORE -- The Boston Red Sox opened the new baseball season the same way they finished the last one -- by combining solid pitching and a relentless offence to win a series. Steve Weatherford Jersey . Although taking two of three from the Baltimore Orioles wasnt nearly as uplifting as winning the World Series, it still felt pretty darn good. Felix Doubront and four relievers combined kept Baltimores potent lineup in check, and David Ortiz had three of Bostons 12 hits off Wei-Yin Chen in a 4-3 victory Thursday night. Xander Bogaerts also had three hits for the defending champions. The 21-year-old shortstop has reached in eight of 12 plate appearances, collecting five hits and three walks. Boston finished with 14 hits, 12 of them singles. The Red Sox amassed 33 hits in the three games, including five by Ortiz, but even more impressive was that Boston limited the Orioles to seven runs over 27 innings. "Thats why they were the last team standing last year," Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. "They pitched better than everybody else for the most part, and I dont think Im telling anybody anything they dont know. You pitch real well, youve got a chance to play extra games at the end of the year." Doubront (1-0) allowed two runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings, and Bostons bullpen maintained its 0.00 ERA with 3 1-3 innings of three-hit relief. Chris Capuano got three straight outs in the seventh, Junichi Tazawa worked the eighth and Koji Uehara needed only seven pitches to retire the side in the ninth for his first save. Bostons bullpen allowed six hits over 7 1-3 innings in the series. "Thats going to be critical until we get to the point where we can push the starters a little bit more, or until their efficiency continues to climb," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. All told, there wasnt much to complain about. Bostons only loss in the series was in the opener, a 2-1 decision. "If you can start the season winning a series, thats what you want to do," third baseman Will Middlebrooks said. "Especially with a team like Baltimore, as good as they are and the staff they have. Were pretty happy with it." Bogaerts added, "Im really happy the way things are going so far. We lost the first one, but we came right back and won the next two." Matt Wieters had three hits for the Orioles and Chris Davis had two hits and scored twice, but it wasnt enough to win the deciding game of the series. "They threw well against us in three games, but you know, luckily its a long season," shortstop J.J. Hardy said. "Well see them again." Chen (0-1) gave up four runs in 5 2-3 innings. The left-hander yielded 11 singles, one double and did not issue a walk. He left in the sixth after Middlebrooks doubled and scored on a two-out single by Jackie Bradley Jr. to put Boston ahead 4-2. "I allowed a lot of hits. Thats what I have to work on," Chen said through an interpreter. "I didnt allow a big inning. Thats what Im happy about." Baltimore chased Doubront in the bottom of the sixth. Davis singled, took third on a single by Wieters and scored on a wild pitch by Brandon Workman. Chen gave up singles to four of the first six batters he faced but got a pair of double plays to avoid extensive damage. After Boston put runners on the corners and no outs in the second inning, Bogaerts scored on a double-play grounder. The Red Sox made it 2-0 in the third. With two outs, Bradley scored from first base when a bloop single by Ortiz eluded the grasp of a diving Nelson Cruz. Three singles, the last by David Ross, put Boston up 3-0 in the fourth. The Orioles scored two in the bottom half on doubles by Davis and Wieters, along with an RBI single by Delmon Young. NOTES: Ericka Brannock, who lost most of her left leg in last years Boston Marathon bombing, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Brannock is a preschool teacher in Towson, Md. ... The Red Sox will receive their World Series rings in a pregame ceremony Friday before opening the home portion of their schedule against Milwaukee. Boston has won a franchise-record nine straight home openers. ... Baltimore hits the road to face the Detroit Tigers on Friday afternoon. Miguel Gonzalez starts for the Orioles against Anibal Sanchez. ... Baltimores Ryan Flaherty went 0 for 4 and is hitless in 11 at-bats this season. ... After hitting a home run in each of his first two games with Baltimore, Cruz went 0 for 4 with a strikeout. Prince Amukamara Jersey . -- The Los Angeles Galaxy have signed coach Bruce Arena to a multi-year contract extension. Jon Beason Jersey . 10 shirt. The Japan forward was presented on Wednesday as an AC Milan player after signing a 3 1/2-year contract on a free transfer from CSKA Moscow.TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays want to put a couple of series losses behind them as they head out for a 10-game road trip that should give them a good idea of whether theyre actually ready to be a contender in the American League East. Toronto dropped a 7-2 decision to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon, with only a pair of late runs preventing a second straight shutout loss. Josh Willingham belted a two-run homer in the first inning and Kendrys Morales hit a bases-clearing double in the seventh as the Twins took the rubber game of the three-game series. Twins starter Phil Hughes (7-2) struck out nine and allowed seven hits over seven shutout innings. With the loss, Torontos lead atop the division standings fell to five games over Baltimore and New York. The Orioles were home to Boston on Wednesday night while the Yankees were in Seattle. The Blue Jays will play Baltimore and New York next week before closing out their trip against the Cincinnati Reds. "Well see how good we are," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "Were playing a couple good teams in our division. Weve got a small little lead on them but theyre right there. So we need to play good baseball on this road trip, especially the way the last four or five games have gone. "For our psyche more than anything else we need to regroup and put a couple good ball games together." Toronto (39-28) has been giving up early leads of late, with the opposition scoring first for the seventh straight time Wednesday. Danny Santana opened the game with a single off Marcus Stroman (3-1), who was making his third career start. The leadoff man scored when Willingham turned on a 1-2 pitch and put it into the second deck. "It was just a bad pitch," Stroman said. "It was probably the worst pitch of the outing. It was just one of those that was supposed to be buried but it just kind of hung up there. I tried to do too much with it." The Blue Jays starter allowed three earned runs and nine hits while striking out four. Triple-A callup Bobby Korecky replaced him in the seventh and loaded the bases before Morales cleared them with a three-run double. Toronto avoided the embarrassment of a fourth shutout loss in five games by scratching out a pair of runs in the eighth. Casey Fien got the last four outs for his first save of the season. "Theres no doubt weve cooled off with the bats," Gibbons said. "But that can turn in one day, that can turn overnight. But I do think its going to be good to get out on the road. "Weve been at home a long time. AA little change of pace, a little change of scenery might do us some good. NY Giants Jersey. " The Blue Jays led several offensive categories last month and, despite the recent cold stretch, have won 16 of their last 22 games and 21 of 29. "The bats are going to come around," Stroman said. "All the guys in the clubhouse are pretty positive about it. I have 100 per cent confidence in every single guy in that lineup that the guys are going to start doing what they were doing at the beginning of the year. Its close." The Twins, meanwhile, moved two games under the .500 mark with the win. Minnesota (31-33) outhit Toronto 16-10 while Hughes picked up his ninth quality start of the season. "Super job by him of changing speeds, moving the ball in and out," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "He used his breaking ball a lot better today." Hughes did well to get out of a jam in the sixth inning after Toronto shortstop Jose Reyes extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an infield single. Reyes moved to third base on a Melky Cabrera single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Oswaldo Arcia made a nice sliding catch in foul territory on a Jose Bautista flyout and Hughes struck out Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind to escape. "I felt like I kind of found myself in the third or fourth inning and was able to ride that through," Hughes said. The Blue Jays fell to 20-17 at home this season. They have been much stronger away from Rogers Centre this year and at 19-11, have the fewest road losses in the major leagues. "The bats will heat up again," Gibbons said. "Hopefully sooner than later." Notes: Announced attendance was 45,080. There were several groups of schoolchildren in the crowd. ... Koreckys callup from the Buffalo Bisons was announced Wednesday morning and he was sent back down after the game. The Blue Jays also optioned outfielder Kevin Pillar to the Bisons and recalled outfielder Darin Mastroianni. ... Dozier left the game in the fourth inning due to tightness in his lower back. He was replaced at second base by Eduardo Escobar and is listed as day to day. ... Toronto will kick off a four-game series at Baltimore on Thursday night. Left-hander Mark Buehrle (10-2, 2.04 ERA) is scheduled to start against right-hander Kevin Gausman (1-1, 4.91). ... The Blue Jays will get an off-day Monday before playing three games against the Yankees and three against the Reds. ... Reyes turned 31 on Wednesday. ... The game took two hours 57 minutes to play. ' ' '
