Boston Red Sox defeat Baltimore Orioles, 7-5

Given how Victor Martinez has reacted in the past - the pleas, the text messages - Red Sox manager Terry Francona knew he shouldn’t even take the chance.

So, after alerting Martinez that he wasn’t going to be in the lineup for last night’s game against the Orioles, Francona added a message.

“I told him I wasn’t going to answer my phone,’’ Francona said. “I said, don’t even try.’’

That was how Martinez came to be sitting in the dugout in the seventh inning, as his tea...

BOSTON - -The sizable gap between the two teams in proven major league talent is a perfectly acceptable explanation for the Boston Red Sox's recent dominance over the Orioles.

But there are more subtle differences as well that fall into the realm of one team finding a way to win and the other consistently finding ways to lose. Victor Martinez came off the bench and delivered a three-run double off Danys Baez to break a seventh-inning tie and push the Red Sox to a 7-5 vi...