BALTIMORE — Adam Jones homered,
Matt Wieters had three hits and two RBIs, and the Baltimore Orioles
rallied to beat the Washington Nationals 6-5 Saturday to clinch their
first series win in 14 tries.
Baltimore scored the game's last six
runs after falling behind 5-0 in the fourth inning. Less than 24 hours
earlier, the Orioles came back from a six-run deficit to win.
It was the third straight victory for
the Orioles, their longest winning streak since May 12-14. Baltimore had
lost 11 straight series and was 0-12-1 since taking two of three from
Seattle on May 11-13.
With the score 5-all in the seventh,
Luke Scott reached on a fielder's choice and took third on Wieters'
two-out single off Sean Burnett (0-4). Drew Storen came in to face
pinch-hitter Ty Wigginton and uncorked a wild pitch that enabled Scott
to score from third standing up.
Jason Berken (1-1) pitched 1 1-3
innings and Alfredo Simon worked a perfect ninth for his eighth save.
Adam Dunn had two RBIs for the
Nationals, who managed only one hit over the final four innings. The
loss dropped Washington to a season-worst nine games under .500 (33-42).
Before the game, the Orioles marked
the anniversary of their 1970 World Series victory by bringing back
several players from that team, along with manager Earl Weaver. To
continue the theme, the Orioles wore 1970 throwback uniforms – complete
with orange stirrups – and Washington wore gray uniforms with the word
"Senators" across the front.
The game turned out to be reminiscent
of that era, when the woeful Senators rarely fared well against
Baltimore.
Recalled from Triple-A Norfolk before
the game, Orioles starter Brad Bergesen allowed five runs and six hits
in four innings. He also walked two and hit a batter.
Livan Hernandez gave up five runs and
11 hits in six innings, only the second time in 15 starts that he
surrendered more than four runs.
The Nationals batted around in a
four-run third inning. Dunn doubled in two runs, Ivan Rodriguez hit a
run-scoring grounder and Roger Bernadina tacked on an RBI single.
After a sacrifice fly by Cristian
Guzman made it 5-0 in the fourth, in the bottom half Jones hit his 12th
homer and third in four days.
Baltimore pulled even with a four-run
fifth that began with four straight hits: A single by Cesar Izturis, a
double by Corey Patterson, and RBI singles by Miguel Tejada and Nick
Markakis. Wieters capped the rally with a two-run, two-out single.
NOTES: Dunn has 10 doubles, eight
homers and 26 RBIs in his past 29 games. … Washington has lost four
straight on the road when Hernandez starts. … After getting only one
RBI over a 23-game stretch, Tejada has six in his past three games.