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BALTIMORE (AP) -After sputtering into the All-Star break in a 1-for-21 slump,
Luke Scott
assured
Baltimore Orioles
manager Dave Trembley there was no reason to worry.
According to Trembley, Scott said, ''I'll get hot the second half. It's always been that way with me in my career.''
Scott backed up those words Friday night, hitting two home runs to lead the Orioles past the
Detroit Tigers
7-4.
Obtained from the
Houston Astros
in December, Scott has endured an up-and-down season with the Orioles. He was batting .324 on April 26, .262 on May 10, .281
on June 17 and .254 at the break.
''Everyone goes through it,'' Scott said of his hot-and-cold streaks. ''I'm not immune to it. No one's immune to it. You've
just got to take the highs with the lows. I believe that a big second half is coming.''
Scott hit a solo shot in the second inning off
Armando Galarraga
and a game-clinching, two-run drive off
Bobby Seay
in the eighth. It was his second multihomer game of the season and fourth of his career.
Aubrey Huff
and
Melvin Mora
also homered for the Orioles, who won for only the second time in 10 games.
Ivan Rodriguez
went 4-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs for the Tigers. Detroit went down in order only once but hit into three double plays
and was 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
''When you get 14 hits,'' Tigers manager Jim Leyland said, ''you're supposed to get more than four runs.''
Detroit's lack of clutch hitting, along with Baltimore's four home runs, was too much for the Tigers to overcome.
''Both played a big factor,'' left fielder
Matt Joyce
said. ''Those home runs, they killed us. And you got to score runs.''
Down 4-3, the Orioles rallied in the sixth against Galarraga (7-4). After Huff led off with a single, Mora hit a high drive
down the line that bounced off the top of the left-field foul pole.
''You don't see it hit the top very often,'' Joyce said. ''I was shocked.''
It was Mora's 13th homer and second in two games.
''I'm happy it hit the pole. If it wasn't for that, I think they were going to call foul ball,'' he said.
Singles by
Placido Polanco
and Joyce leading off the seventh chased Baltimore starter
Jeremy Guthrie
(6-7).
Chad Bradford
then got
Magglio Ordonez
to hit into a double play before
Miguel Cabrera
grounded out.
After Detroit stranded a runner at second in the eighth against
Jim Johnson
,
George Sherrill
got three outs for his 29th save.
Guthrie won his third straight decision despite giving up four runs and a career-high 12 hits.
Galarraga, who allowed eight hits and five runs in 6 2-3 innings, is winless in five starts since June 18.
''Every bad pitch he threw, he paid for it,'' Leyland said.
Even the good pitches proved costly for Galarraga. In the first inning, the right-hander got
Adam Jones
to hit a popup that shortstop Edgar Rentaria dropped.
Nick Markakis
followed with an RBI double.
Rodriguez hit a two-run homer in the second, the first of his five this season with a runner on. Scott countered in the bottom
half.
Detroit loaded the bases with one out in the third before Ordonez hit into a double play. Huff connected in the Orioles' half,
his fifth homer in 13 games. He has 19 for the season, four more than he hit all last year.
The Tigers again filled the bases in the fourth, but this time they cashed in.
Brandon Inge
hit a run-scoring grounder before
Curtis Granderson
doubled in a run to make it 4-3.
Notes: Guthrie has allowed a team-high 16 home runs, one more than
Daniel Cabrera
. ... Ordonez went 2-for-5 to lift his career batting average at Camden Yards to .336. ... Jones has reached base safely in
18 consecutive games. ... Seay's streak of 10 straight scoreless outings ended.
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