BOSTON (Interstat) — Payton Tolle pitched six shutout innings and Wilyer Abreu homered and drove in three runs as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles 8-1 on Wednesday night at Fenway Park.

Tolle allowed seven hits, struck out five and walked none in his third win of the season. He did not allow an earned run, lowering his ERA to 3.86. Ryan Watson earned his first save with three innings of relief, allowing one earned run on two hits with two strikeouts.

Chris Bassitt took the loss for Baltimore, falling to 4-4. He surrendered eight runs on 12 hits over 4⅓ innings, striking out three and walking two. The Orioles dropped to 29-33, while Boston improved to 26-34 before a crowd of 36,872. The game lasted 2 hours 49 minutes.

Boston struck first in the bottom of the first inning. Jarren Duran led off with a single to right, moved to second on a groundout and scored on Abreu’s line-drive single to left. The Red Sox threatened for more when Willson Contreras doubled to left, but Abreu was thrown out at the plate on a relay from left fielder Taylor Ward to catcher Adley Rutschman. Masataka Yoshida grounded out to end the inning with Boston ahead 1-0.

Baltimore tied the game in the top of the second when Rutschman singled with one out, advanced on a groundout and scored on a base hit by Coby Mayo. But the Orioles could not build on the momentum and left runners stranded.

The game turned decisively in the bottom of the third. Caleb Durbin led off with a single to center. After two outs, Abreu crushed a 1-2 pitch over the right-field wall for a two-run homer, his seventh of the season, giving Boston a 3-1 lead. Contreras walked, Yoshida singled and Mickey Gasper walked to load the bases, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa grounded into a force out to end the inning.

Boston broke the game open in the fifth inning. Contreras doubled to center, Yoshida walked and Gasper tripled to right, scoring both runners and making it 5-1. Kiner-Falefa followed with a double to left that drove in Gasper. Marcelo Mayer grounded out, moving Kiner-Falefa to third, and Durbin doubled to left plate to bring him home. Duran grounded out, sending Durbin to third, and Ceddanne Rafaela singled to first to score Durbin, capping a five-run inning that extended the lead to 8-1.

Baltimore scored its only run in the seventh. Taylor Ward singled to center with one out, moved to second on a strikeout and came home on Rutschman’s triple to right, his first of the season. But Watson retired the next two batters to end the threat.

The Orioles managed nine hits in the game, led by Rutschman’s 2-for-5 day with the triple and an RBI. Ward also had three hits, including two singles and a walk. Jackson Holliday and Pete Alonso each singled once. Bassitt and relievers Anthony Nunez and Grant Wolfram combined for three scoreless innings of relief out of the Baltimore bullpen. Nunez pitched two innings, allowing two hits with two strikeouts, while Wolfram worked a perfect seventh with two strikeouts.

Boston banged out 15 hits. Contreras went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a walk. Rafaela had three singles in five at-bats and drove in a run. Durbin collected two hits, including a double and an RBI. Abreu’s homer and single gave him three RBIs. Gasper had a triple and two RBIs, and Kiner-Falefa doubled and drove in one. Duran, Yoshida and Mayer each had one hit.

Tolle’s outing was a rebound from two consecutive losses. On May 28 against Atlanta, he allowed two earned runs in 4⅔ innings and took the loss. On May 22 against Minnesota, he gave up three earned runs over six innings in a no-decision that became a loss. Wednesday marked his first win since May 13.

Baltimore had won the previous game of this series 4-2 on Tuesday, evening the season series at two wins apiece. Boston had taken two of three in Baltimore in late April, including a 17-1 rout in the second game. The Orioles entered Wednesday having won four of their last five, while the Red Sox had dropped two of three.

Baltimore next faces Boston again Thursday in the series finale before traveling to Toronto for three games. Boston will host the Orioles on Thursday and then visit the New York Yankees for a weekend series.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Baltimore 7, Boston 3. Interstat’s ELO system gave Boston a 56.00 percent probability to win. Boston was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total combined score of nine went under the over-under line of eight.