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Wednesday, Aug. 9 7:05pm ET
Mercedes remains Orioles' top starter | |||||
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GAME LOG
DETROIT (AP) -- Jose Mercedes has pitched well everywhere lately, especially in his first outing in Comerica Park. Mercedes pitched into the eighth inning to win his fourth straight decision as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2 Wednesday night. Mercedes (7-4) limited the Tigers to two runs on six hits with six strikeouts and a walk in seven-plus innings. "Here you definitely will pitch more confidently," Mercedes said. "I'm going to go right after guys here." Mercedes threw 64 strikes in 90 pitches. His fastball topped out at 93 mph, but his off-speed pitches were just as effective anywhere in the count. "He was outstanding," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said. "He had a nice breaking ball he threw for strikes early in the count and he had an aggressive fastball. "He's been aggressive in the strike zone, but not in the middle of the plate. The trick to pitching is throw strikes on the corners of the plate, and Jose's been doing that." Mercedes is 6-2 as a starter, the only Baltimore starter with a winning record. He's also made 16 relief appearances, but has been in the rotation since Scott Erickson went on the disabled list July 26. "I just come to the ballpark and try to do my best every time I go," Mercedes said. "Whatever they want me to do, I'm happy. I'm focused on throwing the ball." Rookie Ryan Kohlmeier got the last three outs for his second career save. Willie Blair (8-3) had a three-game winning streak snapped after he allowed five runs on 10 hits in seven-plus innings. "I made a couple of mistakes, but I don't think we played well defensively, I don't think offensively we were doing a very good job," Blair said. " We're not having a good approach at the plate. Defensively, maybe we're not playing as hard as we should and not making good decisions." Jose Macias homered for the Tigers, who have lost five of six to Baltimore and are 2-4 -- averaging less than three runs a game -- with one game left in their homestand. "Our offense has been very weak," Tigers manager Phil Garner said. "We're not getting 'em on and we're certainly not getting 'em in. Macias provided 50 percent of our offense, and that guy hasn't hardly played at all." Detroit is 5-8 in its last two homestands against Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Minnesota and Baltimore -- all with worse records than the Tigers. Between the homestands, the Tigers were 4-3 on a trip to Texas and Anaheim. "It's frustrating because we were playing so well right before this homestand," Blair said. "For whatever reason, we got away from that." Baltimore's retooled offense has taken advantage of Comerica Park's dimensions. Aggressive baserunning led directly to two runs, and the Orioles had two doubles and two triples. "We've got a lot more ways to score than we did a month ago," Hargrove said. "We'll still take the big inning, I'll still take home runs, but we're going to score with the hit-and-run and taking the extra base and that kind of thing." The Orioles took a 5-1 lead with a three-run sixth, on consecutive run-scoring singles from Delino DeShields and Albert Belle and a bloop RBI double from Brook Fordyce, who was 3-for-4. Both singles were to left field with runners on second. Both Brady Anderson and DeShields challenged left fielder Bobby Higginson's strong arm and beat his throws home. "I wouldn't want to bet my paycheck testing Higginson's arm all the time, but it worked tonight," Hargrove said. Ryan Minor doubled and scored on Luis Matos' triple up the right-field gap before Anderson's sacrifice fly gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead in the third. Detroit led 1-0 after an inning as Damion Easley scored from second when shortstop Melvin Mora couldn't handle Juan Gonzalez's hard smash for an error. Macias hit a solo homer, his second, in the seventh. Game notesBelle was 0-for-10 in the series before his single in the sixth. He's batting .188 (12-for-64) over 16 games. ... Easley has batted leadoff in Detroit's last four games and reached safely in the first inning every time. ... Higginson was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Wednesday and is just 4-for-23 (.174) on the homestand. ... Kohlmeier, recalled from Triple-A Rochester on July 28, earned saves in both Orioles wins this series. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Baltimore Clubhouse Detroit Clubhouse RECAPS Cleveland 6 Texas 4
Baltimore 5
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