BALTIMORE -- When the Orioles signed Nelson Cruz as part of an early spring shopping spree, the outfielder stressed feeling at home with his new teammates and wanting to get going right away.Baltimore never looked so cozy so quickly.Cruz homered and scored both of the Orioles' runs in a 2-1 Opening Day victory over the defending World Series champion Red Sox on Monday afternoon. With a sellout crowd of 46,685 on hand at Camden Yards, Baltimore backed Cruz's efforts with some stout relief work to clinch its fourth consecutive season-opening win.With the score tied at 1, Cruz drove Jon Lester's first-pitch fastball into the left-field stands to give the Orioles the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. The slugger, now 11-for-24 with three career homers off Lester, brought the crowd to its feet and was the only Baltimore batter able to get to the tough lefty over his seven innings.Cruz, signed to a one-year, $8 million deal the third week of February, scored the game's first run on Delmon Young's double-play ball in the bottom of the second. Cruz worked a leadoff walk in his first at-bat and advanced to third on catcher Matt Wieters' blooper into center field. 
The O's bullpen backed starter Chris Tillman's effort with four scoreless innings, including six impressive outs from Zach Britton. The left-hander, on for his third career relief appearance, pitched around a one-out sixth-inning double thanks to a pair of stellar defensive plays from third baseman Ryan Flaherty. Britton retired the Red Sox in order in the seventh, getting all six of his outs via the ground ball.Evan Meek, who didn't issue a walk the entire spring en route to securing the final bullpen spot, issued a pair of free passes in the eighth and was replaced by lefty Brian Matusz to face A.J. Pierzynski with the tying and go-ahead runs aboard. Matusz got Pierzynski 0-2 before fielding a grounder back to the mound to keep the Orioles' lead intact.Tillman labored over five innings, throwing 104 pitches to force an early exit despite holding Boston to one run on seven hits. He worked around a pair of singles in the second inning and stranded runners on second and third in the following frame, getting a strikeout to end each of the first three innings.Boston's biggest threat over that span came in the third after David Ortiz singled and Mike Napoli connected for a two-out double. Tillman struck out Mike Carp to end the inning, allowing only Grady Sizemore's solo homer in the fourth.Playing in his first Major League game since 2011, Sizemore sent Tillman's 3-1 offering that bounced off the visiting scoreboard railing to tie the game at 1.Tommy Hunter, officially unveiled as the Orioles' closer prior to Monday's game, hit Will Middlebrooks with his third pitch. One out later, Hunter surrendered a single to Dustin Pedroia to let the suspense build. Hunter got David Ortiz to fly out to deep left and struck out Jackie Bradley Jr. to seal the win.Brittany Ghiroli / MLB.com
The O's bullpen backed starter Chris Tillman's effort with four scoreless innings, including six impressive outs from Zach Britton. The left-hander, on for his third career relief appearance, pitched around a one-out sixth-inning double thanks to a pair of stellar defensive plays from third baseman Ryan Flaherty. Britton retired the Red Sox in order in the seventh, getting all six of his outs via the ground ball.Evan Meek, who didn't issue a walk the entire spring en route to securing the final bullpen spot, issued a pair of free passes in the eighth and was replaced by lefty Brian Matusz to face A.J. Pierzynski with the tying and go-ahead runs aboard. Matusz got Pierzynski 0-2 before fielding a grounder back to the mound to keep the Orioles' lead intact.Tillman labored over five innings, throwing 104 pitches to force an early exit despite holding Boston to one run on seven hits. He worked around a pair of singles in the second inning and stranded runners on second and third in the following frame, getting a strikeout to end each of the first three innings.Boston's biggest threat over that span came in the third after David Ortiz singled and Mike Napoli connected for a two-out double. Tillman struck out Mike Carp to end the inning, allowing only Grady Sizemore's solo homer in the fourth.Playing in his first Major League game since 2011, Sizemore sent Tillman's 3-1 offering that bounced off the visiting scoreboard railing to tie the game at 1.Tommy Hunter, officially unveiled as the Orioles' closer prior to Monday's game, hit Will Middlebrooks with his third pitch. One out later, Hunter surrendered a single to Dustin Pedroia to let the suspense build. Hunter got David Ortiz to fly out to deep left and struck out Jackie Bradley Jr. to seal the win.Brittany Ghiroli / MLB.com
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