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Orioles KO Yankees with seven-run sixth

Apr 19, 2008 - 3:51 AM By Rich Dubroff PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- The Baltimore Orioles want to win by doing the small things, and on Friday night a seven-run, seven-single sixth inning led to a victory.

Luke Scott's tiebreaking single gave the Orioles the lead and Jay Payton and Melvin Mora added two-run base hits as Baltimore rolled to an 8-2 win over the New York Yankees.

By the time the inning was over, the Orioles had their biggest inning of the season in winning the opener of a three-game series.

Nick Markakis had two of his three hits in in the sixth as Baltimore nibbled away and chased New York starter Phil Hughes (0-3) out of the game.

"We haven't been getting a lot of extra-base hits," Payton said. "It'd be nice to throw a three-run home run up to give us some breathing room, but however we can do it."

The Orioles (10-7) are one of the surprises of the first weeks of baseball, and they know those three-run home runs likely will be few and far between.

"We got some two-out hits in succession," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said. "I thought the plan was to work and get some deep counts and we did that."

Baltimore did it against the 21-year-old Hughes, who is the youngest pitcher in baseball. Hughes has lost three straight for the first time in his professional career, and the nine hits he allowed were the most in his career.

"In the sixth, I left a couple of pitches up and there were some soft base hits," Hughes said.

After Hughes left the game, pitching coach Dave Eiland told him: "You do that every time, you'll win a lot of games."

The game was tied at 1-1 when Markakis and Kevin Millar began the sixth with singles off Hughes. Scott singled to score Markakis with the go-ahead run.

With one out, Adam Jones grounded slowly to third and beat Alex Rodriguez's wild throw, allowing Millar to score.

LaTroy Hawkins relieved Hughes and walked Ramon Hernandez intentionally to load the bases. Payton drove in two runs with a pinch-hit single and Mora's single drove in two more for a 7-1 lead. Markakis' second single of the inning scored the eighth run.

"It was a good game until the sixth inning when it kind of got away from us," New York manager Joe Girardi said.

Daniel Cabrera (1-0) got the win. The American League leader in losses last year, Cabrera left after giving up a leadoff homer to Chad Moeller in the seventh. He allowed two runs and five hits, walking two and striking out three.

"I'm just throwing the ball," Cabrera said. "I'm just trying to throw strikes."

All spring, Trembley has defended and encouraged Cabrera, whom he criticized for losing emotional control last season.

"I think Cabrera needs more credit than he is receiving," Trembley said. "He has improved without becoming flustered on the field."

Randor Bierd, Jamie Walker and Matt Albers shut out the Yankees the rest of the way.

The Orioles scored their first run in the fourth. Scott doubled, moved to third on Aubrey Huff's single and scored when Jones hit into a double play.

New York (9-9) tied it in the fifth when Robinson Cano led off with a single and Melky Cabrera doubled him to third. He scored when Moeller bounced to third and Mora booted it for an error.