Orioles Get Sense of Relief Against Red Sox

If only John Oates could arrange some sort of frequent-traveler program for his trips to the pitcher’s mound these days, he’d certainly spend his off-seasons vacationing for free at an exotic island resort somewhere.

The Baltimore Orioles’ new manager again wore a path from the Fenway Park visitor’s dugout to the middle of the infield Saturday, and once more the share-the-wealth approach paid handsome dividends. Five Baltimore pitchers combined to three-hit the Boston Red Sox, and the Orioles’ recently discovered Midas touch helped produce a 3-1 victory Saturday afternoon before 33,648.

A season that saw virtually every break go against the Orioles for the seven weeks suddenly has reversed itself within the past five days. Baltimore won Saturday by getting 5 23 innings of one-hit work by starter Bob Milacki before Oates yanked him, then a 3 13-inning, two-hit effort from four members of a bullpen that left-hander Kevin Hickey now calls “The Dirty Half-Dozen.”

The Orioles won because Hickey, he of the 10.80 earned-run average upon taking the mound Saturday, got Mike Greenwell to hit a line drive right at left fielder Joe Orsulak with two outs and two runners aboard in the Boston half of the sixth inning with the game tied, 1-1. They won because Tim Hulett, the club’s regular third baseman only because Craig Worthington is on the disabled list, made a lunging catch of Tom Brunansky’s scorched liner with two outs and two on in the Red Sox’ eighth and the Orioles protecting their two-run lead.

They won on a day when their heroes included four players who began the season in the minor leagues: Milacki, Hickey, reliever Todd Frohwirth and first baseman David Segui, who had three hits and scored the Orioles’ first run on a fifth-inning double, a wild pitch by Red Sox starter Danny Darwin and Mike Devereaux’s groundout.

They won with good pitching and Devereaux’s two-run, tie-breaking home run in the seventh inning, but they also won with a bit of good fortune. And that’s something that’s been mostly absent during a trying 1991.

“Two weeks ago, everything (off an opponent’s bat) was falling in,” Hulett said. “Two weeks ago, I don’t make that catch. ... We’re playing really well right now. The atmosphere is good, and we kind of have the hunger to get a win every day.”

The Orioles still are in last place in the American League East, 8 1/2 games behind the Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, but they’ve won four of their past five contests to improve their record to 4-5 under Oates (17-29 overall) and create some optimism again. They’ve won two of three games here against a first-place club and in a ballpark at which they had dropped 22 of 26 contests before this series.

Oates has made all the right moves of late, and Saturday was a perfect example. Milacki was masterful, permitting just an unearned second-inning run on a walk to Greenwell, a wild pickoff throw and Mike Marshall’s two-out RBI single. Otherwise, he didn’t allow a hit, walking four and striking out six while displaying some impressive zip on his fastball and what Oates called the right-hander’s best slider since 1989, when Milacki was a 14-game winner.

Yet with Greenwell at bat and Jody Reed and Wade Boggs on base in the sixth following walks, Oates removed a starter who was working on a one-hitter.