Brooks trying to get back to better starts

DETROIT - Aaron Brooks was a solitary figure in the visiting dugout yesterday, the first Orioles player out of the clubhouse with about 45 minutes left before the game started.

He'd walk to the bullpen and warm up, but not before he sat alone on the bench, leaning forward with an intense stare as if locking his eyes on an invisible object in front of him.

Perhaps it was a silent pep talk, though it looked more like a stern lecture.

Brooks had a miserable start last weekend, allowing six runs in the first inning, and didn't make it through the fifth in the previous outing. He shut out the Tigers last night through five innings and was charged with two in 5 1/3, the second scoring after Shawn Armstrong replaced him.

His ERA with the Orioles dropped a bit, from 7.54 to 7.11, the Willi Castro single off Armstrong putting a little more air in it while he watched from the dugout.

No longer alone.

Back-to-back walks with two outs in the first could have trashed Brooks' outing, but he retired Dawel Lugo on a ground ball. Lugo hit a three-run homer off him earlier this season while he pitched for the Athletics.

Getting out of the jam was huge for a guy who's allowed 22 runs in the first inning this season and 13 in the second.

"As a starter, you always want to go out there and put up as many zeroes as you can, especially early for the momentum side of things," he said.

"It was a little frustrating to get a couple of early outs and then kind of lose a little bit of mechanics, which I felt I was struggling the whole game to get my feet underneath me. It was good to get out of that inning, and then the boys did what they did."

"He was throwing strikes," said manager Brandon Hyde. "Had his slider going a little bit. Working ahead in the count. Staying aggressive. He's had a tough time in the first, as we've talked about his last couple starts, and got through it tonight and did a nice job after."

Brooks threw 74 pitches in five innings, the same total as Dylan Bundy's the previous night. The Dodgers worked Bundy for 29 in a bizarre sixth while scoring three runs. Brooks was allowed to throw eight more before departing.

The Orioles have been outscored 139-63 in the sixth inning.

A defense that let down Bundy stepped up for Brooks.

Rio Ruiz was much crisper at third base, and credit goes to Hyde for sending him back out after the costly fielding error Thursday that extended the sixth, and the baserunning mistake that led to an out at third.

Ruiz started a 5-4-3 double play with a nifty backhand stop of Grayson Greiner's sharp grounder, dropping to his knees to field the ball and spinning toward second base. He charged Greiner's bouncer and threw him out in the sixth and caught Harold Castro's foul popup against the screen.

Mason Williams raced into left-center field to catch Miguel Cabrera's fly ball on the warning track and strand two runners in the fifth.

It wasn't until Christin Stewart's leadoff double in the sixth that the bullpen swung into action.

So what is Brooks trying to accomplish over the last few weeks?

Roster survival is a good starting point.

"Just competitiveness," he said. "Just show that I can take the ball every five days and give our team a chance to win."