O's offense comes up short in series opener with Detroit

For the Orioles it was another night with not much offense at Camden Yards. Bud Norris kept it close for a while, but Detroit scored twice in the fourth and eighth innings to beat the Orioles 4-1. The dugouts and bullpens emptied onto the field in the top of the eighth. After Ian Kinsler hit a two-run homer to put Detroit ahead 4-1, Norris hit Torii Hunter. Home plate umpire James Hoye ejected Norris as players from both dugouts ran onto the field. The incident did not escalate from there and Preston Guilmet came on for his O's debut and got out of that inning. The Orioles fell to 20-16 as they scored three runs or fewer for the 12th time in 17 home games. Norris went a season-high 7 2/3 innings allowing five hits and four runs (all earned) with two walks and seven strikeouts. He threw 113 pitches as he falls to 2-3 with a 3.98 ERA. When Kinsler homered, it gave Norris four earned runs allowed and ended the O's streak where their starting pitchers had allowed three or fewer earned runs for 13 consecutive games. The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the second. J.J. Hardy singled with two outs and scored on Steve Clevenger's double to left. It was the sixth RBI for Clevenger, who went 3-for-4 and is 7-for-12 over his last three games. But Detroit took the 2-1 lead in the fourth after Norris retired the first nine batters he faced. Kinsler walked, stole second, went to third on a flyout and scored on Miguel Cabrera's single. He went to third on a double and scored on Austin Jackson's sac fly. Detroit starter Rick Porcello got the win allowing five hits and one run over six innings. He threw 86 pitches and is 6-1 with an ERA of 3.22. The Orioles fall to 9-8 at home, 7-8 against non-AL East teams, 1-3 against Detroit and 3-7 against the AL Central.