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RED SOX 10, ORIOLES 8 (11 inn.)

It’s the ‘most beautiful’ win of the year for Red Sox

Xander Bogaerts and Andrew Benintendi, both of whom would play big roles later, celebrate after scoring in the fifth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.Rob Carr/Getty Images

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BALTIMORE — The Red Sox were down by five runs against the Baltimore Orioles after four innings at Camden Yards in Monday night, a scene bringing back memories of past pennant-race collapses.

Dustin Pedroia has been helped off the field by the point after a foul ball struck him in the face. The bullpen also was in for a busy night after Doug Fister was pulled in the third inning.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who delights in tormenting the Sox, was doing it again.

The Sox didn’t take it. They turned despair into what Xander Bogaerts termed the “most beautiful” victory of the season by beating the Orioles, 10-8, in 11 innings.

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Andrew Benintendi’s two-run single was the difference as the Sox maintained a three-game lead on the Yankees in the American League East. They are 14-3 in extra innings.

“This is a big one, being down early and coming back. Obviously it’s a good win, kind of a character win,” said Benintendi, who came up with the bases loaded and grounded a single into right field with two outs.

Once they had the lead back, the Sox turned to an unlikely closer. Carson Smith, who had not pitched in six days, came out of the bullpen and retired three dangerous hitters — Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop, and Adam Jones — on ground balls. It was Smith’s first save since Aug. 18, 2015, when he was with the Mariners.

Smith spent most the last two seasons recovering from elbow surgery. When he got to the mound, it was his first time working with catcher Blake Swihart.

“Everybody contributed,” Jackie Bradley Jr. said. “Today really kind of showed the tenacity and grit of this team. Down early, plenty of game to play and we put together a lot of great at-bats.”

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In what was a wild game, the Sox trailed 6-1 before taking the lead with six runs in the fifth inning. The teams then traded punches into extra innings.

Facing Miguel Castro in the 11th, Sandy Leon drew a walk. With two outs and Swihart running at second, the Orioles intentionally walked Bogaerts, who had homered to tie the game in the seventh inning.

Rookie Tzu-Wei Lin, the fourth second baseman the Sox used, drew a walk with a tough eight-pitch at-bat.

“Great at-bat,” Benintendi said. “That was a tough guy to face.”

Benintendi then drove a two-strike fastball just past the dive of Schoop.

“Our group has got such grit, such determination. The competitiveness, there’s no quit in them,” manager John Farrell said.

Fister allowed five runs on four hits and five walks. Four of the batters he walked came around to score.

After a series of strong starts, Fister has given up 11 runs on 10 hits over six innings in his last two. With Eduardo Rodriguez having pitched well in his last three starts, a potential postseason rotation remains very much in flux.

Down 6-1, the Red Sox sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth inning and six scored.

Christian Vazquez and Rafael Devers had singles off Dylan Bundy, who to that point had pitched very well.

Bradley then ended a nine-pitch at-bat with a single to right field that scored Vazquez. Bogaerts walked to load the bases and Brock Holt knocked Bundy out of the game with a two-run single.

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Facing lefthander Richard Bleier, Benintendi singled to load the bases. The Orioles called in righthander Mychal Givens to face Mookie Betts and that didn’t work, either.

Betts, who left Sunday’s game at Tampa Bay in the fifth inning with a bruised thumb, lined a three-run double to left field and the Sox had a lead.

But seven runs were not going to be enough to win this game.

With two lefthanders among the first three hitters due up for Baltimore, Farrell went to lefthander Fernando Abad in the bottom of the inning.

With two outs, Abad threw a 73-m.p.h. looping curveball to Pedro Alvarez. The ball was launched over the scoreboard in right field.

Brandon Workman replaced Abad and got Austin Hays to ground to third. Devers misplayed it for his fourth error in as many games. Tim Beckham’s RBI double gave the Orioles an 8-7 lead.

The Sox tied the game in the seventh inning. After looking askance at umpire Marty Foster after he called a low pitch from Donnie Hart a strike, Bogaerts swung at the next one and it cleared the fence in center field for his ninth home run.

Baltimore threatened in its half of the inning when Alvarez lined a ball off the wall in center with two outs. But Bradley made a perfect throw to second base to end the inning.

Once it got to extra innings, Farrell was confident.

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“There’s some level of comfort,” he said. “I can’t say you’re always feeling great about the situation, particularly on the road. But the number of [extra-inning] games that we’ve played, and how we’ve executed late in games, I’m extremely proud of the way they go about it.”

Pedroia returned to the bench before the game ended and joined the celebration. He has a badly bruised nose and is day-to-day.

Box score: Red Sox 10, Orioles 8


Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @peteabe.