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DAN SHAUGHNESSY

On Memorial Day, a memorable outing

Mookie Betts celebrated with teammates after scoring from second on an infield dribbler against the Orioles.AP

BALTIMORE — Remember all that stuff about “urgency,” and last place three times in four years, and John Farrell on the hot seat, and the Red Sox struggling to regain relevance in their own market?

Yeah, forget all that.

The Sox are in first place, playing a brand of baseball that is successful and wildly entertaining. On many days they make it look really easy (it is not). Almost every day they do something spectacular or memorable.

On Memorial Day afternoon in Baltimore, playing in front of a steamy sellout (43,926) that included thousands of loud Boston accents, the Sox trashed the second-place Orioles, 7-2. Knuckleballer Steven Wright floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee for the full nine innings, stifling a thunderous Oriole lineup on four hits.

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Unbelievable David Ortiz, the greatest 40-year-old player in baseball history, stayed on his Triple Crown pace with another homer — his 14th of the young season. Xander Bogaerts extended his hitting streak to 23 games with a pair of doubles. Jackie Bradley Jr. broke a 2-2 tie with his ninth homer, and Marco Hernandez — starting only because Hanley Ramirez needed a day off — crushed a three-run shot, the first home run of his big league career.

And then there was the moment that got the hardball purist out of his chair, the moment that many of us had not seen before.

Mookie Betts, part of a budding crop of soon-to-be Sox All Stars — scored from second base on a dribbler in front of home plate in the first inning. Without benefit of an error. It was a clean 2-3 in your scorebook with an RBI awarded to Bogaerts. That’s a first for a lot of us.

The Sox were lucky and good on this play. Betts was on second as Bogaerts faced Oriole righty Tyler Wilson with one out. Bogaerts’s mighty swing produced nothing more than a squibber in front of the dish. Betts bolted for third as Wilson charged and catcher Caleb Joseph pounced from behind the plate.

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“I could see the ball and noticed that both of them went after it,’’ said Betts.

As Joseph picked up the ball and fired to first for the second out of the inning, Betts rounded third and raced for home, where no one was covering.

“At that point, I knew they couldn’t beat me home,’’ said Betts.

Oriole manager Buck Showalter, a known Red Sox hater, came out and asked the umpires to review the play because the ball had bounced off Bogaerts (Bogaerts admitted this) and should have been ruled foul. The umps would not review the play. The Red Sox led, 1-0, and Bogaerts had a cheesy RBI.

“[Betts] set the tone early,’’ said Sox manager John Farrell. “It was a good heads-up play on his part.’’

David Ortiz pointed the way to another Red Sox win with his 14th homer.Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

More than good, according to some. I had never seen it. Jim Henneman, one of the Baltimore official scorers who started covering the Orioles in 1960, said he had never seen it. The Globe’s estimable Bob Ryan Tweeted, “. . . my favorite play of the year and Top 5 ever!’’

I told Betts how impressed we all were.

“I did the same exact thing last year in Kansas City,’’ he deadpanned. “Pedey was the hitter.’’

I checked with Dustin Pedroia.

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“Of course,’’ said Pedroia. “Pay attention. Watch the games.’’

Of course. These Red Sox are going so good they can pull off a once-in-a-lifetime play and tell us that they do it on a regular basis.

Like Bogaerts getting a hit in every game.

Like Steven Wright reminding us of Tim Wakefield in 1995, pitching like an All-Star.

Like a kid up from Pawtucket hitting his first big league homer.

Like Ortiz doing things that have quite simply never been done, then singing to himself at his locker after the game and pledging to watch the Thunder and Warriors in Game 7 on Monday night.

“A good day for us,’’ admitted Farrell, no longer on the hot seat.

The Sox lost three straight Thursday through Saturday, then had to go into extra innings to win Sunday in Toronto. But most of this year they have been winning and making it look easy. They scored 73 runs in a 6-1 homestand. They lead the majors with 302 runs, which is at least 60 more than the next-best team in the American League. They have three of the top five hitters in the American League, and Ortiz (“he’s playing softball,’’ said Indians manager Terry Francona) has eight homers in his last 16 games in Baltimore.

Routing assorted Athletics, Astros, and Rockies, ending games in the early innings, scoring double digits seemingly at will, the Sox of April and May have been irresistible. They’re managing to make cynics forget that they finished last three of the last four seasons. They have been the feel-good story of our sports spring, making us forget that winning baseball games is incredibly difficult.

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It’s summed up perfectly by manager Jimmy Dugan (played by Tom Hanks) in “A League of Their Own.’’ When Dugan’s best player tells him she’s quitting because the game is too hard, Dugan tells her, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everybody would do it. The hard . . . is what makes it great.’’

Remember this, people. The Red Sox are making it look easy this spring, but winning baseball games forever will be hard business.


Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Dan_Shaughnessy.