BOSTON -- The way Justin Masterson was pitching, he didn't need much help. The Orioles gave it to him, anyway.
On a rainy, chilly Patriots' Day holiday, Baltimore made three errors that led to five unearned runs, Wei-Yin Chen struggled with his control and the Boston Red Sox won 7-1 Monday in a game shortened by rain to 6 1/2 innings.
"The errors kind of gift-wrapped or built into the four-run inning, along with some bases on balls," Boston Manager John Farrell said. "At this level, you give extra outs, you're asking for trouble."
The first pitch was thrown at 11:04 a.m. after Boston Marathon runners already were on the course that passes close to Fenway Park. Rain began falling steadily in the fourth inning, and the game was called after a 1-hour, 42-minute wait.
"It was the same for both teams," Baltimore Manager Buck Showalter said. "It was a little bit hard for anybody on the mound to throw the ball where they wanted."
Masterson (2-0) allowed 1 run, 3 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings with 6 strikeouts. He didn't want to change his plan to get five innings in before the rain, to make the game official.
"We're not just laying balls in there, because that's kind of the way things snowball," Masterson said. "All of a sudden now you've got the bases loaded and you're giving up a grand slam or putting people in a bad spot."
With the score tied at 1-1, Boston scored four runs in the third when Chen walked four and made an error.
Third baseman Manny Machado also committed an error for the Orioles.
Chen (0-1) thought plate umpire Andy Fletcher had a small strike zone.
"When you make a pitch and can't throw it for a strike, you can't throw the next pitch down the middle," Chen said through a translator. "It kind of upset me."
Boston took a 1-0 lead in the first when Mookie Betts singled, stole second, took third on catcher Ryan Lavarnway's wild throw and scored on David Ortiz's sacrifice fly.
Baltimore tied it in the second on Travis Snider's triple and Ryan Flaherty's double.
Xander Bogaerts led off the third with a walk, took third on a single by Ryan Hanigan and scored when Chen bobbled Betts' grounder. Dustin Pedroia sacrificed, and Allen Craig loaded the bases with a walk.
Mike Napoli walked, forcing in a run, and Machado's error allowed Betts and Craig to score.
Baltimore had three errors, the first game this season in which the Orioles committed more than one. They have seven errors this year, three by pitchers.
Baltimore's Adam Jones had his nine-game hitting streak snapped.
TIGERS 2, YANKEES 1 J.D. Martinez and Yoenis Cespedes hit consecutive RBI singles in the seventh inning, and Joba Chamberlain got Jacoby Ellsbury to hit into a crucial double play in the eighth, helping host Detroit battle back to beat the New York Yankees. CC Sabathia (0-3) gave up 7 hits while striking out 5 in 8 innings for the Yankees, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
National League
REDS 6, BREWERS 1 Anthony Desclafani pitched eight shutout innings and Zach Cozart and Joey Votto homered as visiting Cincinnati beat Milwaukee. Desclafani (2-0) held Milwaukee hitless until Adam Lind's double with two outs in the fourth. Hector Gomez's fifth-inning single was the only other hit off Desclafani, who struck out five and ran his scoreless innings streak to 15.
Sports on 04/21/2015