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Orioles snap eight-game losing skid with offensive explosion

Sep 9, 2008 - 3:29 AM By Rich Dubroff PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Fatherhood agrees with Aubrey Huff. After missing two games to celebrate the birth of his baby son, Huff helped the Baltimore Orioles break an eight-game losing streak.

Huff's grand slam keyed a seven-run sixth inning to power the Orioles to a 14-3 win over the Cleveland Indians on Monday night.

Adam Jones broke an 0-for-16 slump with three hits - including a home run - and four RBI.

Trailing 3-2, the Orioles scored seven runs in the sixth inning and added five more in the eighth to win for just the third time in the last 18 games. In the sixth, Oscar Salazar smacked a two-run single and Jones had an RBI base hit before Huff connected on a grand slam against Indians reliever Juan Rincon, who replaced Fausto Carmona.

"We needed it," Huff said. "The morale has been kind of down and we hadn't been playing very good baseball."

After leadoff walks to Juan Castro and Brian Roberts in the eighth, Jones belted a three-run shot and Ramon Hernandez later followed with a two-run homer.

Huff, who missed the last two games after the birth of his son on Thursday, has 102 RBI. He's not far off from his career highs in home runs (34) and RBI (107) set in 2003 when he was with Tampa Bay.

"Coming into spring training, that is always the goal I want to shoot for," Huff said. "Obviously the last three years haven't been close but obviously it's very gratifying."

Manager Dave Trembley is glad to see Huff have a monster year, too.

"He's a different guy this year for a lot of reasons," Trembley said. "If he continues for the next couple weeks, he's going to have a career year. He's going to set numbers for himself that he's never had before. He's been a legitimate No. 4 hitter for us."

The 14 runs equaled the most Cleveland allowed this season and the grand slam was the 11th allowed by the Indians - tops in the major leagues - and a club record.

"Sometimes things come in bunches - and that has this year," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "I don't think it's one particular thing you look at."

Garrett Olson (9-7) notched the win for the first time in five outings, tossing six innings and allowing three runs and eight hits.

"We've been down the last nine, 10 games, and it's just that time of year where it seems like you are playing a contender," Huff said. "We just wanted to go out there today, and just play baseball, relax and have some fun. It all starts with starting pitching and Olson gave us a great one."

Asdrubal Cabrera, who is 12-for-22 in a recent stretch, had three hits and two RBI for Cleveland while Shin-Soo Choo had two hits and two runs. Choo has hit in 12 straight games while reaching base in 28 straight.

The Indians took a 3-1 lead in the fourth in support of Carmona (8-6), who had his three-game winning streak snapped. He allowed seven runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings, walking four and striking out five.

"Every time I go out, I feel like I'm going to get through the inning," Carmona said through an interpreter. "A lot of times, it's been one inning where they've scored a lot of runs. Next time out, I'm going to concentrate on getting through that inning."

Luke Scott paced Baltimore before its outburst in the late innings. His RBI groundout in the second scored Huff to tie the score at 1-1, and he launched his 22nd home run in the fourth to cut Cleveland's lead to 3-2.