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Cabrera, Markakis lead Orioles past Royals

May 9, 2008 - 4:30 AM By Marc Bowman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Daniel Cabrera tossed a three-hitter and Nick Markakis hit a three-run homer as the Baltimore Orioles topped the Kansas City Royals, 4-1, on Thursday night.

Cabrera held the Royals without a hit over the final four innings. He induced 18 groundouts while striking out seven and walking one in helping the Orioles snap a five-game losing streak.

The 26-year-old righthander made his sixth straight quality start, hurling his first complete game of the season and fifth career. It was his first complete game victory since beating the New York Yankees, 7-1, on September 28, 2006.

"I feel like I did then," Cabrera said. "It's been a long time, and I'm trying to remember nothing bad. It was a good game and I was happy to pitch well."

"He had a good sinker, good command," Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez said. "He was getting ahead, and when you get ahead, the batters have to be aggressive. You can throw the sinker lower and lower, and you'll get them to chase. He's always had it, but he's never used it a lot. He's been pitching great all year."

Cabrera (2-2) improved his career record against the Royals to 4-0, including a 3-0 mark in three starts in Kansas City. The Orioles are a perfect 7-0 against the Royals in games in which Cabrera has started.

"A good job by Daniel," Kansas City manager Trey Hillman said. "He probably had a half-foot of movement to a 90-92 miles-per-hour fastball. That's a difficult thing to approach. He had a ton of life (on his fastball). He mixed in some of his secondary pitches, but honestly, there was enough life and movement to his fastball that if he'd been just a one-pitch pitcher, that could have given us fits."

"I've always had the pitch," Cabrera said of his sinking fastball. "Ramon told me to keep on throwing it. I threw it about 90 percent of the pitches. I was happy to have the complete game. You don't see that every day."

Baltimore grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Luke Hochevar's wild pitch in the first inning allowed Markakis to score. Markakis expanded the advantage to 4-0 in the third with his seventh home run of the season, a three-run blast to center field.

"The way Cabrera pitched tonight, it's not going to take many runs," Markakis said. "Anytime you can score four runs and have a guy throwing like that, you're sitting in the driver's seat."

"It was a changeup that stayed up in the zone," Hochevar said. "That was the difference in the ballgame, the mistake I made to Markakis. I got beat with my least-best pitch instead of sticking with my strength and attacking the strike zone."

The Royals scored their lone run in the fifth on Tony Pena Jr.'s two-out RBI single. It was the only inning in which Kansas City advanced a runner past second base.

Hochevar (2-2) allowed four runs and five hits in seven innings, walking two and striking out five.

"Hoch was not nearly as in command with his pitches as his last outing," Hillman said. "Although he pitched good enough (to win) if he hadn't made the mistake to Markakis and if we could have come up with offense. Unfortunately, he left a changeup - which was his third- or fourth-best pitch - to the No. 3 hitter, and it got deposited."

The 24-year-old righthander settled down after giving up the homer to Markakis, holding the Orioles to just two hits over his final four-plus innings.

"There's an adjustment I had to make to go deep into the ballgame and get more aggressive in the strike zone," Hochevar said. "They took a lot of pitches early on. When guys are taking pitches like that, you've got to make sure you are aggressive in the strike zone and induce some contact."

"They literally only had two solid hits off him," Royals catcher John Buck said. "The others were two broken bats and a dribbler up the middle. The one big one was what hurt."