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Mora stars as Orioles rip Tigers

Aug 16, 2008 - 3:45 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Melvin Mora collected three hits and drove in four runs to lead the Baltimore Orioles to an 11-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Friday.

Mora helped open the scoring in the first inning, tripling to right-center field and coming home on a single by Aubrey Huff.

The Orioles bumped the lead to 3-0 in the second. Luke Scott doubled off Nate Robertson (7-9) and Juan Castro walked before Brian Roberts delivered an RBI single. Castro scored on the play thanks to a throwing error by right fielder Magglio Ordonez.

Mora belted his 18th homer to left in the fourth to make it 4-0.

"He's hitting the ball better, he looks locked in," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "Simply, he looks locked in."

Placido Polanco halved the deficit with a two-run homer in the fifth off Chris Waters, who was pulled three batters later. Lance Cormier (2-3) came on and tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the win.

The Orioles iced the game with six runs on four hits and two errors in the ninth inning, a frame that saw Polanco ejected for arguing a call on an attempted double-play relay throw to first.

The inning also marked the return of Tigers closer Todd Jones from the disabled list. It was less than successful, however, as the righthander allowed five unearned runs, three hits and three walks while retiring just two batters.

"He was OK," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I just wanted to get a situation where he could get his feet wet. He had a nightmare inning. If balls had dropped another way, things would be different. He threw too many pitches (38) and I had to get him out of there."

Mora picked up a pair of RBI in the inning on a single. He has driven in 85 runs this season, including 15 in his last seven games.

"You're going to have to score as many runs as you can," Trembley said. "The middle of (Detroit's) lineup is treacherous."

Huff had three hits as Baltimore notched 14 overall against five pitchers.

"My mechanics were off from the very start," Robertson said. "I missed a couple of pitches and it cost me. After the third, I was able to settle down, but my pitch count was up and I was out of there."

Jim Johnson pitched the eighth and George Sherrill finished up with a scoreless ninth for Baltimore.

Curtis Granderson had three hits for the Tigers.

"It was pretty ugly," Leyland said of the loss. "It started bad and got worse. We got a lot of hits but no runs. We were able to get good swings with the bats but weren't able to get the key hit.

"If you don't pitch well, you don't have a chance."