O's rally in seventh on hits by Schoop and Markakis to beat Houston

Orioles manager Buck Showalter was talking about the clutch nature of two-out, run-scoring hits before tonight's game. Then his team went out and came up with a couple of big ones to lead the O's past Houston 4-3 tonight in front of 28,875 at Camden Yards.

After Houston tied the game 2-2 in the top of the seventh, the O's untied it off reliever Jerome Williams in the bottom half.

J.J. Hardy led off the frame with a double and was at third with two outs. Then Jonathan Schoop lined a sharp single to center for a 3-2 lead and then scored on a Nick Markakis double for the 4-2 edge.

Schoop has four RBIs in his last three games after going eight games without one. Markakis had three hits to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. He is batting .354 with two homers and eight RBIs.

There was once again drama in the opponent's ninth inning. Tommy Hunter came on and allowed a double, walk and stolen base. But he got a double play ball and strikeout to end it, recording his 11th save in 12 chances.

Down 1-0, the Orioles got solo homers from Steve Pearce and Manny Machado to go ahead 2-1 in the last of the third. For Pearce, it was his second homer in two games and third in the last four games. It's the first time he's homered in back-to-back games. It was Machado's first extra-base hit and RBI of the season.

Wei-Yin Chen took that 2-1 lead into the seventh inning, but Chris Carter led off with his fifth homer to tie the game at 2-2.

But the O's rally made Chen the winning pitcher. He went seven innings, allowing five hits and two runs with one walk and four strikeouts. Chen, who threw 101 pitches, is now 4-2 with an ERA of 3.95.

O's starters have allowed three earned runs or fewer for 11 straight games with an ERA of 3.09.

While Houston lost for the eighth time in 10 games, the O's won their fourth in a row and seventh in nine games to improve to 19-14. That is a season-high five games over .500.

The Orioles are 8-6 at home and have won eight games in a row decided by two runs or less.