Jones Carries Orioles Past Angels 3-2
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Adam Jones homered and drove in two runs to back an effective pitching performance by Brad Bergesen and lead the Baltimore Orioles over the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 Saturday night.
Jones hit a solo shot in the fourth inning and put Baltimore ahead 3-2 in the fifth with a sacrifice fly. He has four homers and nine RBIs in his last eight games.
J.J. Hardy had three singles as part of a 13-hit attack that enabled the Orioles to win for only the fifth time in 22 games.
Baltimore got at least one hit in every inning except the eighth but was victimized by four double plays.
Bergesen (2-6) allowed two runs, six hits and two walks in six innings to earn his first win since May 14. He's 2-0 lifetime
against the Angels and 15-23 against everyone else.
Jim Johnson and Koji Uehara each pitched a scoreless inning before Kevin Gregg got three outs for his 16th save, striking out Howie Kendrick to end the game with the potential tying run at second base.
Vernon Wells' second homer in two games, a two-run drive in the first inning, but Los Angeles didn't score again. Erick Aybar had three hits for the Angels, whose three-game winning streak ended.
Joel Pineiro (5-5) gave up three runs and 11 hits in 5 1-3 innings. It was a significant improvement over his previous outing, when he yielded eight runs and got only one out in a loss to Oakland.
The Angels broke on top in the first inning when Bobby Abreu drew a two-out walk and Wells slammed an 0-2 pitch into the left-field seats. It was his 34th career homer against the Orioles, including 32 when he played with Toronto.
Following his horrid performance against Oakland, Pineiro was hopeful of getting off to a good start. He promptly gave up a leadoff single to Hardy, who was thrown out attempting to stretch it into a double.
That began a series of missed opportunities by the Orioles, who had seven hits over the first four innings but only one run -- on Jones' 17th homer. It was only the second run allowed by Los Angeles pitchers over a span of 26 innings.
Baltimore finally brought home a couple of runners in the fifth.
Robert Andino and Craig Tatum singled, Nick Markakis hit an RBI single and Jones followed with a run-scoring fly to left for a 3-2 lead.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
