Boston starter Bronson Arroyo struggles for his second consecutive start as Baltimore cruises to a series-opening victory at Fenway Park.

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, May 31, 2005

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- For months, Bronson Arroyo couldn't lose. But over his last two starts, Arroyo hasn't been able to win.

Arroyo was belted around for seven runs on 10 hits in just 2 2/3 innings last night as the Red Sox' hard-earned momentum from their weekend series New York took a holiday in a one-sided 8-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

The loss pushed the Sox four games in back of first-place Baltimore in the American League East, a half-game behind the Yankees.

The 10 hits were the most allowed by Arroyo in 10 starts this season. The outing was the shortest -- by far -- this season.

"I just got killed -- straight up," Arroyo said. "They hit every pitch like they knew it was coming. I don't think they took more than

two or three swings where they were baffled and didn't know what was coming. It was just one of those days. It was like (batting practice) out there."

"He didn't locate his fastball very effectively," manager Terry Francona said. "He got behind in the count, which has not been the way he's been pitching. And then he left some breaking balls over the middle of the plate. He didn't locate good enough."

"They had a good approach to Bronson tonight," catcher Jason Varitek said.

Thanks to outfield assists from Trot Nixon (in the first inning) and Manny Ramirez (third inning), the Sox managed to cut down two more potential runs at the plate in the first two innings, and when Arroyo got ahead of David Newhan 0-and-2 with two outs and the bases loaded in the third, he was one pitch away from getting out of the jam trailing just 3-0.

But Newhan didn't bite on three consecutive fastballs that ran the count full, and when Arroyo hung a slider, Newhan didn't miss, wrapping it past the right-field foul pole for a grand slam and a 7-0 Baltimore lead.

"It wasn't that bad of a pitch," Arroyo said. "It was right down the middle, but I had the bases loaded, full count. I know I'm out of the game if I walk him. I'm thinking just throw him a breaking ball over the plate. I had thrown him four straight fastballs and I thought he'd at least be off-speed a little bit. But he hit it just like every other ball I threw over the plate tonight."

Francona stressed that he hasn't lost confidence in Arroyo, who until his last start hadn't been tagged with a loss since last August.

"He's been so good, you come to expect it," said Francona. "That's a great quality about what Bronson has done -- he's been very reliable. I think it's kind of unfair for me to jump off the bandwagon because he's had a couple difficult starts."

"You have one or two of those every year," said Arroyo. "What can you do, man?"

Conversely, Baltimore's Rodrigo Lopez continued his mastery of the Red Sox, limiting them to a single unearned run in eight innings. In 19 career appearances against the Sox, Lopez is now 9-4 with a 3.73 ERA. His nine wins since the beginning of the 2002 season are the most of any opposing pitcher.

"He pitched his game," Baltimore manager Lee Mazzilli said of Lopez. "He threw his changeup, his slider and mixed his pitches."

"He's got such good control," Johnny Damon said of Lopez. "He can throw his curve for strikes at any time and he's got a good changeup and spots his fastball well. We can't figure him out."

The lone Red Sox run came in Lopez' final inning. An error by Orioles' shortstop Miguel Tejada was followed by a one-out walk to David Ortiz and back-to-back singles from David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.

That helped the Sox avoid being shut out at Fenway for the first time since Sept. 17, 2003 when they were blanked by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Sox remain the only American League team to not be shutout this season.

Other than three outfield assists -- Ramirez later threw out Melvin Mora in the ninth attempting to go from first to third on a single by Tejada -- the lone bright spot for the Sox was the long relief stint turned in by John Halama. Halama took over for Arroyo after the Newhan slam and contributed 4 1/3 hitless innings.

"If he struggles," Francona said, "and you have to go to everybody (in the bullpen), that's not good. He did a great job for us. He knows his responsibility on nights like this and he did a great job."