Orioles Rally Past Oakland

May 29, 1999 / 11:08 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Harold Baines hit a three-run homer and pinch hitter B.J. Surhoff followed with a solo shot in the eighth inning as the Baltimore Orioles rallied to beat Oakland 7-5 Saturday night, snapping the Athletics' nine-game home winning steak.

The Orioles overcame a 5-0 deficit in winning on the road for the seventh time in 24 games.

Trailing 5-3 entering the eighth inning, the Orioles got a two-out single from Will Clark and Buddy Groom was relieved by T.J. Mathews.

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Albert Belle greeted Mathews (5-1) with a single and Baines, homering for the third time in four games, drove the first pitch he saw from Mathews over the left center field fence to give the Orioles a 6-5 lead.

Surhoff, batting for Jeff Conine, followed with his first career pinch-hit homer, driving an offering from Mathews into the right field seats. Cal Ripken Jr. then doubled, finishing Mathews, who didn't retire any of the four batters he faced.

Doug Johns (1-1) picked up the win, working four scoreless innings in relief. Arthur Rhodes worked the ninth for his second save.

Oakland starter Gil Heredia went six innings and had faced the minimum through five but gave up an RBI single to Brady Anderson in the sixth and leadoff singles to Belle and Baines in the seventh before leaving. Conine had an RBI single off Doug Jones and the Orioles added their third on Delino DeShields' groundout.

Jason Johnson (0-2), making his second start for Baltimore since his recall May 20 from Triple-A Rochester, went three innings and gave up five runs on six hits. He struck out two and walked one.

Oakland got to Johnson for three runs in the second. Olmedo Saenz doubled to start the inning and Ben Grieve followed with an RBI single. Eric Chavez singled, Ryan Christenson sacrificed and A.J. Hinch then lined a double to center to drive in two more runs.

The A's went up 5-0 on Grieve's two-run double in the third.

Notes:

Baltimore stopped Oakland's home winning streak one shy of the club record.

Baines' homer was the 358th of his career, tying him with Yogi Berra for 49th all time.

Oakland reservcatcher Mike Macfarlane was hit in the face by a pitch while warming up Jones during pregame workouts. Macfarlane wasn't wearing his mask and suffered a gash across the bridge of his nose. He was treated and returned to help catch in the bullpen during the game.

Tommy Davis collected his first major league hit, a single off Heredia, in the sixth.

A's pitchers have walked three or fewer batters in 19 of the last 22 games, including the past four straight.

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