With inputs from Associated Press

As Chris Sale returned from a long term injury, Boston Red Sox hit five home runs to defeat Baltimore Orioles 16-2 in the Major League Baseball on Saturday.

Sale, 32, suffered an ulnar collateral ligament tear two years back and this was his first big league game since then. He completed his return by pitching five innings, giving up two runs on consecutive homers by Austin Hays and Trey Mancini in the third.

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Meanwhile, with the loss, the Orioles have now dropped their 10th straight game. Rafael Devers got Boston off to a fast start with a three-run homer in the first against Jorge López (3-13). J.D. Martinez hit a three-run homer and Bobby Dalbec added a solo shot during a seven-run fifth inning — right after Sale left to a loud ovation.

Dalbec hit his second solo homer an inning later, and Hunter Renfroe connected in the eighth.

Sale’s last pitch in the majors came on August 13, 2019. The seven-time All-Star had surgery on his 31st birthday — March 30, 2020 — and missed last year’s pandemic-shortened season.

Earlier in the day, Kevin Newman tied a major league record with four doubles, and the Pittsburgh Pirates snapped an eight-game losing streak in the first game of a doubleheader.

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Newman doubled in each inning from the third through the sixth in the seven-inning game. He also scored four times.

The only Pirates to previously hit four doubles in a game were Hall of Famer Paul Waner in 1932 and Adam Frazier in 2019.

Rookie Hoy Park had three of the Pirates’ 19 hits. Chasen Shreve (1-0) struck out the side in the fifth.

Milwaukee’s Brett Anderson (4-6) was tagged for six runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings, according to AP inputs.