The Orioles had scored 10 runs or more in each of their last six victories, a trend that dated all the way back to Aug. 14. Finally, they were able to win without an offensive landslide, a fact that loomed large after the game.
"I need a few more of them for it to be a relief. Let's be honest there," said Baltimore manager Dave Trembley. "I think it's more the style we need to play in order for us to compete and to win and to be successful and to keep guys interested in the game. I think you need to play tempo and you need to play momentum and you need to play a high caliber of game.
"And I think you do that starting with pitching, especially your starting pitching -- get your guys off the field, get them in to hit and give your guys a chance to think along with you so that they can be put in some situations where they can have some opportunities to succeed. ... It's probably as good a game as we've played in a while."
Baltimore's victory was keyed by some atypical names Thursday night. Rookie Brian Bass made his first career start and pitched relatively well, handing a lead to the bullpen. Lance Cormier worked three strong innings and handed to veteran Jamie Walker, who got two key outs. And finally, Jim Miller worked the ninth for his first career save.
"I look at it as just everybody is going to go through stretches," said Cormier, who said the team has maintained high morale despite adversity. "For the bullpen to be as successful as we have for the most part this whole year, everybody is going to get to throw and everybody is going to have to go out there as much as they can. That's what we have to do right now."
Most of the losing streak -- and most of the last three weeks, by extension -- has been characterized by shaky pitching for the Orioles, a streak that got turned on its ear Thursday night. Baltimore (65-80) made a key error that led to the game-tying runs in the fifth inning, but the bullpen held firm and made the home team's go-ahead rally stand up for the win.
Bass gave up a run in the second inning, but he escaped the fourth on a double play. The rookie gave up a leadoff walk and a hit in the fifth, and Asdrubal Cabrera bunted both runners into scoring position. One walk later, Cormier (3-3) came in and coaxed an easy fielder's choice to the mound but threw wide of home, pushing two runs across the plate.
"I think it's a play I've made over and over," he said. "Instead of setting my feet, I just tried to continue to run and throw it, and just momentum kept it going. It was a big situation. I'm mad at myself because that's a play I know I can make."
"Cormier has become a very valuable guy for us," added Trembley. "But you could see tonight, I thought it might have caught up with him a little bit. He's been a very good strike-thrower for us but his ratio was not as good as it's been and I think that's a sign of maybe he's been used so much in recent times. But he made some big pitches, and even though he rushed that play, he minimized the damage and stayed away from the big inning, which is what we needed."
The Orioles didn't shrink from the challenge, though, and used some small ball of their own to assume command. Third baseman Aubrey Huff chipped a double in the bottom of the fifth, giving Baltimore two runners in scoring position. One of those game-breaking runs scored on a ground ball and the other one came home on a two-out error by Cabrera.
Cleveland (71-74) had fallen in a hole in the early innings, thanks to a Baltimore lineup shuffle. Melvin Mora came back from two weeks on the disabled list and helped rebalance the batting order, planting Huff in the cleanup slot. Mora impacted the game in just his second at-bat, when he capped a three-run rally by stroking a two-run double off Zach Jackson in the third inning.
"Melvin gave us a shot in the arm in the three-hole," said Trembley. "What it does is it forces them to make decisions because you've got a guy hitting behind him that's got 100 RBIs. ... Our goal has been to get those first four guys up -- get to the fifth guy in the first inning or get to that fifth guy during situations where there's guys on base because that means Mora and Huff have done their job. In that eighth inning there, they had a couple things they could have done. They could have walked Melvin and pitched to Huff, but we forced them to go to the bullpen and then it gave Huff another shot."
Baltimore scored once in the seventh inning to widen the gap, but it still had to rely on an untested rookie to close out the game. The Orioles activated closer George Sherrill from the disabled list earlier in the day but wanted to give him one night to settle in, so Trembley had to choose between Miller or Rocky Cherry for game-closing duties.
Trembley went with Miller, who proceeded to walk the first batter he faced and followed that up by allowing a single. Miller steeled himself, though, and struck out Kelly Shoppach before ending the game on a fly ball and a groundout.
"The first time, yeah, it's definitely a little bit more intense," Miller said. "These guys, top to bottom in that lineup, if you make a mistake to one of them with two runners on, bam, it's a tie ballgame. ... Down in Triple-A or Double-A, wherever you're at, if you get two guys on and the bottom of the lineup, you still feel confident or comfortable with who you're facing."
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