Adam Jones had three hits, including a solo homer in the eighth inning that lifted the Baltimore Orioles to a 3-2 win over the Houston Astros on Thursday.
With the score 2-2 in the eighth inning and two outs, Jones drove a pitch from Chad Qualls (1-3) into the Crawford Boxes in left field. Jones has five hits in his past two games following a 0-for-12 slump.
Taiwan’s Chen Wei-yin yielded two runs and five hits in 6-1/3 innings with a season-high nine strikeouts. Darren O’Day (2-0) struck out two in one inning, while Zach Britton got four outs for his 14th save in 15 chances, stopping Baltimore’s five-game losing streak.
Photo: AP
O’Day has posted scoreless outings in each of his past seven appearances and 19 of 22 on the season. He owns a 0.89 ERA, which ranks fourth-best among American League relievers. O’Day’s outing also helped ensure Chen’s quality start would not go to waste.
“The first time with two men on base, I tried to keep the ball down and get some grounders,” Chen told the MLB Web site through an interpreter. “I was happy I was able to get out of that.”
“The second time [in the seventh], I’ve got to say, O’Day did an amazing job,” he added.
Hank Conger had a home run and a double for the Astros, who at an AL-best 34-21 are off to the fastest start in franchise history.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter was ejected in the second inning by umpire Brian Gorman after going to home plate, gesturing and yelling at him. His ejection came after Ryan Flaherty struck out after two called strikes.
Bench coach John Russell took over after the ejection.
Houston starter Dallas Keuchel matched his shortest start this season at six innings after consecutive complete games. He allowed two runs and six hits with seven strikeouts.
Jones singled with one out in the sixth, stopped short to evade the tag and a double play on Chris Davis’ grounder and scored the tying run on a single by Steve Pearce, a ball that rolled out of the diving reach of both third baseman Luis Valbuena and shortstop Marwin Gonzalez.
Houston had runners at first and third with no outs in the sixth inning, but Chen retired the next three batters, striking out two.
Houston put runners at the corners with no outs in the seventh. O’Day replaced Chen with one out and walked pinch-hitter Colby Rasmus before to load the bases before striking out George Springer and retiring Jose Altuve on a flyout.
Davis’ RBI single put Baltimore ahead in the first, Hank Conger’s homer run tied the score in the third and Luis Valbuena’s sacrifice fly put the Astros ahead 2-1 in the fourth.
In other games, it was:
‧ Tigers 5, Athletics 7
‧ Cardinals 7, Dodgers 1
‧ Indians 6, Royals 2, 8 innings
‧ Twins 8, Red Sox 4
‧ Rays 2, Mariners 1
‧ Cubs 2, Nationals 1
‧ Rangers 2, White Sox 1, (11)
‧ Reds 6, Phillies 4
‧ Mets 6, Diamondbacks 2
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