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Orioles defeat Athletics 5-1

May 26, 2010 - 3:03 AM By DAVID GINSBURG AP Sports Writer

BALTIMORE(AP) -- For once, it didn't matter that the Baltimore Orioles went hitless with runners in scoring position.

Ty Wigginton and Adam Jones delivered successive sacrifice flies in the sixth inning, and the Orioles scored three runs without benefit of a hit Tuesday night in a 5-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

Jeremy Guthrie (3-4) gave up one run and six hits in six innings for the Orioles, who made the most of seven hits in a rare win over the A's.

Baltimore's first run came on a throwing error, and the run-scoring fly balls in the sixth followed two straight walks and a wild pitch by Tyson Ross (1-3).

"There were four at-bats in the game that were key for me - the two guys that walked, and after the wild pitch, the two productive outs," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said.

Nick Markakis hit a solo homer off Michael Wuertz in the eighth, and Matt Wieters added an RBI double.

Baltimore went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position, but the team with the worst record in the majors (15-31) turned two fly balls into the game's pivotal runs.

"We got the guys on in the right situations, took advantage of some wild pitches and some walks and our hitters did a good job in those situations," Markakis said. "Those are things you need to do to win ball games and today was a good example of it."

Oakland starter Dallas Braden left with a sore left ankle after allowing an unearned run and three hits in four innings. He issued two walks in his final inning and was pulled after only 62 pitches.

"I sprained my ankle a couple of weeks ago in Texas. It's just been something we've been taking care of for the past couple of weeks," Braden said. "They asked me how it felt, and I was honest, and I told them it didn't feel too hot. We just figured it was probably the right thing."

Braden was confident he would make his next start.

"I'm just (mad) I wasn't there to continue to give my team a chance," he said. "We had to dip into a bullpen. That wasn't what we were looking forward to doing on the first day of a 10-day road trip."

Braden departed with the score tied at 1. He is winless in three starts since throwing a perfect game against Tampa Bay on May 9.

The defeat ended Oakland's three-game winning streak, fashioned with an interleague sweep of San Francisco in which the A's outscored the Giants 10-1.

Oakland had won 13 of its last 15 games against the Orioles and were 15-4 in their previous 19 games at Camden Yards.

After Guthrie threw 113 pitches, the injury-depleted Baltimore bullpen made the lead stand up. Mark Hendrickson pitched two innings and Will Ohman worked the ninth.

Before the game, the Orioles put closer Alfredo Simon and setup man Koji Uehara on the 15-day disabled list.

Oakland took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Jack Cust walked, took third on a double by Gabe Gross and scored on a groundout by Mark Ellis.

Baltimore ended Oakland's string of consecutive shutout innings at 23 with an unearned run in the fourth after Braden walked the first two batters. Trying to complete an inning-ending double play, shortstop Cliff Pennington threw wildly to first base, allowing Miguel Tejada to score from third.

Braden rebounded to strike out Wieters, but that would be the last batter he faced.

"I don't ever want to come out," Braden said. "If I have to throw 200 pitches, I'll do it."

NOTES: Oakland OF Coco Crisp was a late scratch, due to a strained chest muscle. It was the second straight game he missed, and afterward he said, "I'm pretty sure I'm on the DL. ... It's a bad stroke of luck here." ... Oakland failed to hit a home run in a seventh consecutive game, the team's longest such streak since a nine-game run in 1983. ... Orioles DH Luke Scott was scratched with a strained shoulder. He was replaced by slumping Garrett Atkins, who broke an 0-for-18 skid with a seventh-inning single. ... Baltimore OF Corey Patterson and his brother Eric, an Oakland OF, played in the same game for the first time since April 17, 2008.