Cruz hits No. 16 to take major league lead as O's top Cleveland

The Orioles needed a win today to split the four-game series before the start of a long road trip, and they got one. Manny Machado and Nelson Cruz homered, and Miguel Gonzalez got the win as the Orioles beat Cleveland 4-2 in front of 37,649 at Camden Yards. The O's are now 11-12 at home and 25-23 overall. They begin a three-city, 10-game road trip Monday afternoon in Milwaukee. Down 2-0, the Orioles scored single runs in the second and third to tie the game. Jonathan Schoop and Steve Pearce had RBI singles. Pearce went 3-for-4 with a double, and is now batting .333. The O's used the longball to break the tie in the last of the fifth. Machado homered to right off Trevor Bauer for a 3-2 lead. It was his second. Cruz hit No. 16 to take the major league lead and give the O's a 4-2 lead. For Cruz, that was his fourth homer over his last six games, sixth in 11, and 14th in his last 32 games. He has hit 45 homers over his past 163 games. On the mound, Gonzalez settled down after giving up two runs in the first and provided the Orioles with his fifth quality start in nine tries. He went six innings, allowing four hits and two runs with four walks and strikeouts, throwing 100 pitches. He is now 3-3 with an ERA of 4.35. He has allowed three earned runs or less in eight straight starts and has pitched to an ERA of 3.00 over his last four games. After Gonzalez exited, he Orioles got shutout innings from Preston Guilmet, Brian Matusz and Zach Britton, who recorded his second save. Baltimore pitchers held the Cleveland offense in check today after the staff had given up 40 runs in the previous six games. O's pitchers had allowed eight runs or more in four of the previous six games. In the series opener with the Brewers on Monday at 2:10 p.m., Chris Tillman (4-2, 4.21 ERA) faces Kyle Lohse (6-1, 2.67 ERA).