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Scott leads Orioles past Tigers in 10th

Jul 20, 2008 - 4:14 AM By Rich Dubroff PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Luke Scott capped off a wild night with an unusual celebration.

After he hit a game-winning walk-off homer in the 10th inning to lead the Baltimore Orioles to an 11-10 win over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday, Scott slid into home plate.

Scott's 17th homer of the season off Freddy Dolsi (1-4) came one night after his second multi-homer effort of the season and fourth career.

He wasn't surprised by his team's comeback since it won for the second straight night after losing eight of the previous nine.

"It starts with attitude," Scott said. "When we go out there and play, we're not focused on the scoreboard. We know we have nine innings and maybe more. Each inning, we go out there and play hard."

Ramon Hernandez tied the game at 10-10 with a leadoff homer in the ninth against Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya and All-Star closer George Sherrill (3-4) pitched a scoreless 10th to pick up the win.

"I'll take it every darn night if it turns out like that," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said. "You'd hate to waste all those hits and runs."

Baltimore nearly faced its third deficit of the game, but Sherrill wiggled out the jam. Placido Polanco laced a two-run double - his fourth hit of the game - and then tried to score on Gary Sheffield's single, but center fielder Adam Jones' throw cut him down at the plate to preserve the tie.

"Tough one, very tough one," Polanco said. "That's how the game goes sometimes. We had our chances. There are days when pitching is going to be there and we're not going to score enough runs."

The Tigers opened the scoring with a six-run first inning, highlighted by Miguel Cabrera's three-run home run - his 17th home run of the season. Jeff Larish capped the scoring in the frame with a two-run shot.

After Melvin Mora hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first, Baltimore recorded a six-run inning of its own in the third.

In the third, Baltimore scored six runs on eight hits to take an 8-7 lead. Hernandez's sacrifice fly scored Aubrey Huff in the fourth inning to give the Orioles a two-run cushion.

"When you get leads like that, you've got to stop them," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said of his team's early offense. "We just didn't do it. It's that simple. You've got to shut them down for a few innings and give yourself a chance to add runs and we didn't do it."

Dennis Sarfate coughed up the lead by getting tagged for three runs in the sixth. Magglio Ordonez lifted a sacrifice fly to tie the game and Mike Joyce doubled to take the lead.

"It was a great game," Hernandez said. "We were losing, we came back, they got ahead, now you're winning."