Arizona wins on homer in ninth, 7-6 over Orioles

A wild game that saw the O's lose a lead and then regain a tie, ended in a walk-off loss. Adam Eaton hit his first homer of the year, on the first pitch of the last of the ninth off Darren O'Day, as Arizona beat the Orioles 7-6 at Chase Field. The O's went to the ninth down 6-5, but tied it 6-6 with a gritty comeback on a Nick Markakis sac fly. But it did not lead to extra innings or a win. The O's took a 4-2 lead to the seventh, but Arizona scored three times to get the lead. The inning started with Brian Matusz hitting a batter and Tommy Hunter coming on and issuing a walk. Both runners would score during the rally. The game featured another dramatic homer by Chris Davis, but this time it came in a loss. With the Orioles down by one and two outs in the eighth, Davis homered to left off southpaw Joe Thatcher to tie the game at 5-5. With his 43rd homer, Davis moved into a tie for fifth on the O's single-season homer list. Brady Anderson hit 50 in 1996, Frank Robinson hit 49 in 1966, Jim Gentile compiled 46 in 1961 and Rafael Palmeiro hit 43 in 1998. Davis joined the group tonight with his sixth homer in his last 12 games. The O's bullpen had allowed just one earned run over the last 16 innings before its struggles tonight. O's starter Scott Feldman gave up four hits and two runs (one earned) over 5 1/3 innings in getting a no-decision. O's starters have allowed three earned runs or fewer for seven straight games, pitching to an ERA of 2.91 in that stretch. With the loss, the O's missed a chance to tie a season high by going 14 games over the .500 mark and to pull within one game of the second AL wild card spot. Brian Roberts drove in two runs for the Birds, Matt Wieters added a long solo homer to center and the O's scored in the first inning when Markakis singled and scored from third on a wild pitch. Arizona scored twice in the second and the second run was controversial when third base ump Alfonso Marquez ruled Manny Machado interfered with Gerrardo Parra as he reached third base. He was thrown out easily at home, but the interference call led to the runner being safe at home for a 2-2 tie and an error charged to Machado. The Orioles fall to 32-28 on the road, 4-2 on this trip and 65-53 overall.