Chris Davis singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning, while J.J. Hardy homered and had two RBIs as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians 4-3 on Friday.
Jimmy Paredes had three hits and scored twice for the Orioles, who have won five of six to move a season-high five games over .500 (39-34).
Brandon Moss, Ryan Raburn and Carlos Santana hit solo homers for Cleveland, who wasted a 10-strikeout performance by Corey Kluber.
Photo: AFP
After Santana homered off Darren O’Day (5-0) in the eighth to tie it 3-3, the Orioles only needed two pitches to regain the lead in the bottom half. Paredes greeted Marc Rzepczynski (1-3) with a double and Davis followed with a single to right.
Zach Britton got three outs for his 22nd save.
Kluber allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings, but it was another in a series of outings in which he received poor offensive support. Santana’s homer enabled last year’s Cy Young Award winner to avoid losing a fifth straight start and absorbing his 10th defeat of the season.
Orioles starter Chen Wei-yin of Taiwan allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings. The left-hander departed with a 3-2 lead, but the bullpen could not make it stand up.
Baltimore trailed 2-1 before rallying against Kluber in the sixth. Paredes singled, took third on a double by Chris Parmelee and scored without a throw on a sacrifice fly by Hardy. Ryan Flaherty followed with a bloop single to score Parmelee.
After Moss put the Indians ahead with a homer in the second, Hardy responded with a bases-empty drive in the bottom half. It was Hardy’s third home run of the season, the first since May 15.
Kluber had seven strikeouts through three innings. Raburn led off the fourth by hitting a 2-2 pitch into the left-field seats.
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