Orioles Use 4 Homers To Beat Indians 8-3
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Robert Andino homered and had a career-high four RBIs, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians 8-3 Sunday to secure their first winning streak in nearly a month.
Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters hit solo shots for the Orioles, who scored the final eight runs after falling behind 3-0 in the first inning. Baltimore lost nine straight and had not put together successive victories since June 19-20 before winning twice to earn a split of the series.
It was the first time since May 26 that the Orioles rallied from three runs down to win.
Travis Hafner and Carlos Santana homered for the Indians, who have dropped five of seven.
Cleveland All-Star shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera added another brilliant fielding gem to his ever-expanding highlight reel.
With a runner on first base in the fourth, Cabrera sprinted behind second base to reach Markakis' grounder. As his momentum carried him toward the outfield grass, he flipped a no-look, underhand toss to second baseman Luis Valbuena, whose relay completed the stunning double play.
Limited to a pair of hits by Jeanmar Gomez and trailing 3-1 in the fifth, Baltimore got singles from Wieters and Mark Reynolds before Andino hit a 3-1 pitch into the front row of the left-field seats. It was his eighth home run in 3,524 career at-bats; he previously had six solo homers and a two-run drive.
Markakis homered for the second time in two games to chase Gomez and make it 5-3 in the sixth. Recalled from Triple-A Columbus before the game, Gomez (0-2) allowed six hits in his first major league appearance since May 5.
Cleveland loaded the bases with one out in the seventh before Jim Johnson quelled the threat.
Baltimore went up 7-2 in the bottom half against Joe Smith, who had not allowed an earned run in his previous 27 appearances.
Derrek Lee doubled and came home on a suicide squeeze by Andino before J.J. Hardy hit an RBI single.
Wieters connected in the eighth off Frank Herrmann. Making his third major league start, Baltimore's Mitch Atkins
gave up six hits, including a pair of homers, in three innings. The right-hander needed 77 pitches to get nine outs and left with Cleveland up 3-1.
Mark Hendrickson (1-0) followed with three innings of scoreless relief to earn his first win since May 13, 2010.
Atkins retired the first two batters before Hafner hit a drive into the center-field bleachers. Three pitches later, Santana
launched a shot to right that became the 56th home run in the 20-year history of Camden Yards to land on Eutaw Street.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter insisted it was a foul ball, and the umpires adjourned to look at a replay before returning to confirm the home run call.
Grady Sizemore followed with a double but bruised his right knee while sliding into second. He was replaced by Ezequiel Carrera, who scored on a single by Travis Buck.
Batting cleanup for the first time this season, Jones led off the second inning with his 15th home run.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
