BOSTON — When Ryan Flaherty of Portland singled off Clay Buchholz in the fourth inning, it was a big moment for the kid from Deering High.

In the game itself, it looked like a case of adding on, as Flaherty’s Baltimore Orioles team already had a 5-0 lead.

But then another player, also familiar to Portland, made it interesting.

With Boston down 5-1 in the fifth inning, Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks — who had a breakout season last year at Hadlock Field — swatted a grand slam to tie it.

Of course, all that was EARLY in the game, which ended up lasting six hours.

Eventually, the Orioles won 9-6, so Flaherty could talk joyfully about playing his first Major League Baseball game at Fenway Park, while a more-subdued Middlebrooks spoke of his first homer in the majors, a game-tying slam over the historic Green Monster.

“It was probably the biggest rush of my life, to be honest,” Middlebrooks said.

Flaherty, like Middlebrooks, is in his first year in the majors. But Flaherty will stay with the big club all season. Sunday was his 10th game and seventh start.

Orioles manger Buck Showalter quipped to the Baltimore media, “you can’t come to Boston for three days and not play a guy named Flaherty.”

Flaherty arrived to the ballpark Sunday and saw his name atop the lineup, batting lead-off and playing left field.

“You always dream of playing in front of the Green Monster,” he said.

Flaherty, 25, has already played second base, third base, first base and right field this season. He played left field for the first time Sunday. Before the game, Flaherty was fielding fly balls, in front of, and off the wall.

“People can play out there for five years and not learn how to play it. I tried to to do it in a day,” he said with a laugh. “It can be tough. You don’t know if it’s going to hit the wall.”

After Middlebrooks’ slam, the Red Sox put two runners on in the fifth. Dustin Pedroia hit a long fly ball to left, which Flaherty jumped for and caught on the warning track.

At the plate, Flaherty went 1-for-5.

“Just trying to have some good at-bats. (Buchholz) left a curveball up and I was able to get a base-hit to right,” Flaherty said. “Really cool.”

He grounded out three times and struck out on an Alfredo Aceves 97 mph fastball in the ninth.

With Boston left-hander Franklin Morales pitching in the 11th, Flaherty was lifted for right-handed pinch-hitter Ronny Paulino, who grounded out on a slow bouncer to Middlebrooks.

Middlebrooks, 23, played a solid third base most of the day, save for a harmless throwing error in the 14th. It has been quite a weekend for Middlebrooks. He doubled on both Friday and Saturday and, with his blast Sunday, he became the first Red Sox player to record extra-base hits in his first three games.

“It’s been awesome” he said. “I’ve had nothing but positive feedback.’

The Middlebrooks family had two home runs to celebrate Sunday. Will’s sister, Lacey Middlebrooks, not only pitched a one-hit shutout for her University of Tulsa softball team, she hit the winning three-run homer, in a 3-0 win over Alabama-Birmingham.

“Did she?” Will said when informed of his sister’s feat. “I’ll have to give her a call.”

I can’t tell you much about the career of Lacey, a junior, but her older brother is going to be hard to yank out of the lineup if he keeps this up. Middlebrooks packed up his gear after the game, leaving for the team’s flight to Kansas City.

After the game, Flaherty said good-bye to his parents, Ed and Deborah, and other family and friends. He then joined his team for the flight to Baltimore. The Orioles celebrated a sweep of Boston, while Flaherty can also savor his first major league hit (of many?) at Fenway Park.

“A fun weekend. Something I dreamed of my whole life, coming back here and playing,” he said. “Glad it worked out well.”

Kevin Thomas — 791-6411

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: ClearTheBases

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