Jimenez goes eight strong as O's beat Oakland, split twinbill

Orioles right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez bounced back very well from a poor outing. The Orioles offense came up with a much-needed big inning to back him. It all added up to a 5-2 win for the Orioles over the Athletics and a split of the day-night doubleheader at Camden Yards.

The Orioles are 17-12 overall, 12-5 at home and 7-2 against the A's since the start of the 2015 season.

Jimenez allowed nine hits and two runs over eight innings, matching Kevin Gausman for the longest 2016 outing by an Orioles starting pitcher. He walked just one and fanned six. He left to a big ovation after the top of the eighth when he struck out the side around a one-out single. Jimenez threw 104 pitches, 68 strikes.

He regrouped from last Sunday when he allowed six runs over 4 2/3 against the White Sox. Jimenez is 2-3 with an ERA of 4.54. Jimenez was efficient for most of tonight, throwing 14 or fewer pitches in six of his innings. Zach Britton pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to get his seventh save.

The Orioles had scored just five runs their last 33 innings when they got four on four hits in the last of the third to take a 4-0 lead.

Caleb Joseph singled with one out and went to third on Manny Machado's 15th double, a liner to right-center. Hyun Soo Kim advanced both runners with a grounder to second and it was 1-0. Adam Jones then snapped a 1-for-16 stretch with an RBI single to center. Jones had just three RBIs his previous 17 games. Chris Davis followed with a long two-run homer to right-center for the 4-0 lead.

Davis snapped an 0-for-16 with his eighth homer, which came on a 2-2 changeup from right-hander Jesse Hahn. Davis had homered just once in his last 12 games.

The lead grew to 5-0 an inning later. The Orioles used infield hits by Jonathan Schoop and Ryan Flaherty and an error to put runners on first and third. Joseph's double-play grounder scored the fifth run. Schoop's hit extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

Jimenez blanked Oakland on 48 pitches through four before the A's scored twice in the fifth. Josh Phegley and Josh Reddick produced RBI singles. Hahn took the loss for the A's, allowing eight hits and five runs (four earned) over 5 1/3 innings. Reddick went 4-for-4 to tie his career high in hits and he went 7-for-9 in the twinbill.

The Orioles will try to win this series on Sunday afternoon when Chris Tillman (3-1, 2.81 ERA) pitches against right-hander Kendall Graveman (1-3, 4.40 ERA).