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Pearce leads O's in sweep of Pirates

Jun 15, 2012 - 5:38 AM Baltimore, MD (Sports Network) - Steve Pearce spent the first five years of his major league career with the Pittsburgh Pirates and never had more than two RBI in any of his 185 games there.

In the seventh game of his Baltimore Orioles career, against the Pirates no less, Pearce put together a career outing with his first homer of the season and five RBI in a 12-6 Orioles victory to help Baltimore sweep a three-game interleague series.

Not to be overshadowed were Matt Wieters and Mark Reynolds, each of whom had four hits in the rout. Wieters tied career-highs in hits and also matched a career-high in RBI with five, while Reynolds homered and posted his third career game with at least four hits.

"Everyone is playing well on this team," said Pearce. "The starters have it going, the bullpen has been great, the hitters are alive. All those thing together and we're a tough ballclub to beat."

In all, Baltimore finished with season-highs in runs and hits (16) in its season-high tying fifth straight win.

Tommy Hunter (3-3) was the beneficiary of the support after allowing five runs in six innings.

Rod Barajas hit a three-run homer for the Pirates, who had won 12 of 15 before being swept. Erik Bedard (4-7), making his second start at Camden Yards since being traded from Baltimore in 2008, was tagged for seven runs in only 3 1/3 innings in defeat.

"We got wiped out here and there's nothing to say about it," said Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle. "We got wiped out here and we have to move on and get ready for the next team."

Baltimore wasted no time jumping ahead, scoring four runs in the first.

Brian Roberts led off with a single and moved to second on a one-out walk. Wieters put the Orioles on the board with an RBI single, and Reynolds followed with an RBI double.

Pearce began his stellar performance with a double that brought in Wieters and Reynolds to cap off the big inning.

Wieters' ground-rule double plated another in the third, but Baltimore put the game away with five more in the fourth.

With runners on second and third with two outs, Wieters laced his third hit of the game -- a single to left -- to score two and push the lead to seven. After a Reynolds double moved Wieters to third, Pearce hammered a three-run homer for a 10-0 margin.

Hunter set down the first 12 Pittsburgh batters before Garrett Jones reached on a bloop single to begin the fifth. He yielded Barajas' homer later in the inning, and a Casey McGehee RBI groundout and Pedro Alvarez RBI single pulled the Pirates to within five in the sixth.

The Orioles limited the damage, however, and their lead was too great. Wieters pushed the edge back to six with an RBI double in the sixth, and Reynolds capped the scoring with his fifth homer of the season in the eighth.

The Baltimore bullpen allowed one run in the final three innings, an Alex Presley RBI groundout in the ninth.

Game Notes

The Orioles haven't scored more than 12 runs since August 10, 2010 against Cleveland, a 14-8 victory...Baltimore is 7-2 in interleague play this year...The Orioles finished with 44 hits in the series...Pirates pitcher Charlie Morton underwent Tommy John surgery and will miss the next 12-18 months...This is the first time the Pirates have lost three in a row since a five-game losing streak from April 10-14.