Adley Rutschman homers twice in Baltimore return as Red Sox hold off Orioles, 6-5

Adley Rutschman couldn’t have scripted his return to Camden Yards much better.

The former Orioles catcher received a standing ovation from the Baltimore crowd Thursday night. Three pitches later, he gave his new team the lead.

Rutschman homered twice against his former club, Nick Sogard delivered a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth and the Red Sox survived a tense ninth inning to beat the Orioles, 6-5, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

For a Boston team that arrived in Baltimore having lost six of its previous eight games, and with its pitching staff showing some troubling signs, it was a needed way to begin a four-game series.

Making his first appearance in Baltimore since the Orioles traded him to Boston at the deadline, Rutschman drove the third pitch he saw 377 feet to right field for a solo homer in the first inning.

Baltimore answered before the inning was over, tying the game at 1.

Then came an unusual fourth inning for Jake Bennett.

The rookie left-hander entered Thursday having surrendered only seven home runs over 93 2/3 innings, but Luis Robert Jr. and Pete Alonso opened the fourth with back-to-back solo shots, putting Baltimore ahead, 3-1.

Despite the sudden power surge, Bennett didn’t let the inning unravel.

He completed six innings on just 68 pitches, throwing 76.5% of them for strikes, and kept the Red Sox within striking distance.

The performance continued a solid stretch since Boston gave Bennett eight days of rest following his Aug. 14 start. He has allowed six earned runs over 19 innings since then, good for a 2.84 ERA.

Rutschman began Boston’s comeback in the sixth.

Facing his former team for the third time, he launched another ball to right field, this one traveling 389 feet, to cut Baltimore’s lead to 3-2.

It was Rutschman’s fifth career multi-homer game and easily his biggest offensive performance since joining the Red Sox.

Rutschman entered Thursday batting just .170 (9-for-53) with two extra-base hits since the trade. His overall numbers have been underwhelming this season, but his underlying plate discipline has remained strong, including a 25.6% chase rate, 16.7% whiff rate, 16% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate.