BOSTON — The Orioles had a chance Friday afternoon to show that Wednesday’s win — their first after eight straight losses — wasn’t a fluke, that they still are that playoff-caliber team they’d shown over the previous two seasons.

Instead, the Orioles reached a new low, even for them. Although they at one point led 2-0, a decision to put in Cionel Pérez and Emmanuel Rivera — yes, that’s a position player pitching in a once-competitive game — led to a 13-run inning as the Red Sox batted around twice on their way to a 19-5 win.

It was supposed to be the opener of a doubleheader after Thursday night’s game was postponed, but Game 2 on Friday night was also postponed. The teams will try for another split doubleheader Saturday, with start times of 1:05 p.m. and 6:35 p.m.

“This is Major League Baseball. I think we’ve just got to move on,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said before the second game was called off. “We know we have a second game. We know we’re going to try to win that game. I feel like they understand that we did what we had to do at that point in the game to try to win the second one.”

Although starter Cade Povich was solid — allowing just one run on four hits in five innings — the Orioles’ bullpen collapsed and the hitters again wasted opportunities that could have made a difference.

The Orioles had command of the game early. Jackson Holliday, who just over a year ago went 0-for-8 in his debut series at Fenway, continued to show off his adjustments, hitting an RBI single in the third. Adley Rutschman grounded out later that inning to send in another run to make it 2-0.

The Orioles drove up Brayan Bello’s pitch count, driving him out after four innings and forcing the Red Sox to go to their bullpen early on a day when they thought they would need every arm available.

That should have worked in the Orioles’ favor. But this is the 2025 Orioles, so of course that wasn’t the case.

Seranthony Domínguez took the ball for the sixth, and while he got a quick out the trouble would soon follow. Nick Sogard sent a fly ball that was deflected by Heston Kjerstad and turned into a double. Then Domínguez walked Kristian Campbell, and Ceddanne Rafaela hit an RBI single to tie the game.

That would be it for Domínguez, but the despair was still to come. Gregory Soto immediately gave up an RBI single, then Rafael Devers sent a middle-middle slider soaring into right field, Kjerstad forced to watch it fly over his head as the Red Sox took a 6-2 lead.

Domínguez and Soto, both acquired from the Phillies at last year’s trade deadline in an attempt to add late-inning bullpen support, have a combined ERA of 5.37 this season.

“Seranthony comes in, gets the first-pitch out, good spot,” Mansolino said. “Ball’s hit to right field, tough play for Kjerstad, big effort, doesn’t get it done, ball goes in. I think we get a couple guys with two strikes, unable to finish it off. They get some traffic, comes in Soto.

“We like the matchup with Soto against [Jarren] Duran and what’s his name? I don’t know how I’m forgetting his name, but the big left-handed hitter. Dev. Raf. We like Soto there. It was like fastball middle, maybe 0-1 or second-pitch fastball middle. Duran gets on it, and then it looks like his slider kind of backed up and Devers, who’s been doing it for quite a while now, hits it over the fence.”

The Orioles’ offense, as it often has lately, fought back just enough to give hope, loading the bases in the top of the eighth with one out, but only managed to get one. Had they squeaked across even one more, it might have been a completely different ballgame, because Mansolino may have gone to a trustier reliever for the bottom of the eighth.

Instead, he brought on Pérez, a lefty the Orioles keep giving chances despite his 6.53 ERA showing they should probably do otherwise. His performance Friday just reinforced that point. He allowed five runs without recording an out, putting a game that was competitive completely out of reach.

Because the Orioles expected to play another game a few hours later, Rivera was the next pitcher. The decision turned the inning into a comedic affair, the Red Sox scoring eight runs off him to turn this into one of the worst losses of a season full of defeats.

“You get down eight innings right there for us, you send Cionel out, I think he’s at 12 pitches, you look up, he’s pushing 35 to 40 pitches,” Mansolino said. “We’re down eight runs. By the rules of Major League Baseball, we’re allowed to put in a position player. I think you kind of punt right there with the idea that you’ve got to have as many arms as you can in the second game. So it is what it is. We don’t take it personal. We’re just trying to be smart.”

This article has been updated.