With the Orioles’ rotation struggles on full display, Baltimore’s offense provided a little pick-me-up Tuesday night at Camden Yards.
Adam Jones doubled in Manny Machado — who homered twice and added a double and single — for the go-ahead run off Brian Shaw in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s 6-5 series-evening victory over the red-hot Indians. The victory, which snapped Cleveland’s win streak at six, gives the O’s their fourth win in 13 games as they try to gain some momentum.
“That’s a good team. I’d be surprised if they don’t win their division,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Cleveland. “There’s not many holes there. There’s not many breathing spots. “[Closer] Brad [Brach] did real well to go through that part of the lineup.”
Machado, who just missed a third homer in the seventh, went deep twice off Indians starter Josh Tomlin for a four-RBI night. Tomlin went 4 2/3 innings and was charged with five runs on eight hits, including three homers. Jonathan Schoop provided the other homer for the O’s, belting a solo shot in the second inning.
“I try not to look at the numbers anyway,” Tomlin said of Machado’s low batting average. “Those guys have track records for a reason. You can look at the numbers, they are what they are. But, you can’t leave the ball down the middle of the plate or not execute pitches in those situations. Unfortunately, that’s what happened tonight, an unexecuted pitch, and that changed the game. Unfortunately, probably ended up losing the game.”
The Indians went up early on Orioles starter Chris Tillman with Edwin Encarnacion’s mammoth blast. Encarnacion sent Tillman’s 3-1 pitch into the second deck of the left-field seats — just the second ball to land there all year — for a two-run homer and his 17th of the season. The ball went 454 feet, according to Statcast™, his second-longest homer of the year. It was just the fourth ball to reach the second deck in Camden Yards history.
The Tribe added another trio in the fourth, with Austin Jackson driving in a run and Francisco Lindor doubling in two.
Tillman went four innings plus one batter, giving up five earned runs on eight hits, three walks and two wild pitches.
The Indians had the tying run on third base in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Brach was able to nail down the save by getting Yan Gomes to fly out to the warning track.
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