Adam Jones' home run drought is clearly over. Chris Tillman's struggles may be, too. That would be big for the Orioles. Matt Wieters returned tonight and that did prove big for the Orioles.
Jones hit his second tiebreaking homer in two days and Tillman got his first win since April 18 as the Orioles beat Cleveland 5-2 in the opener of a three-game series.
The Orioles have their first two-game win streak since May 28 and 29 as they improved to 10-17 on the road and 25-29 overall.
Wieters played for the club for the first time since May 10, 2014 and went 2-for-3 with a single, double, sac fly, run scored and two RBIs.
Tillman, who was 0-6 over his last seven starts, went 6 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and two runs with three walks and three strikeouts. He threw 101 pitches and is now 3-7 with an ERA of 5.61.
The Orioles were 3-7 in Tillman's first 10 starts, but get the win tonight as he posts his fourth quality start of 2015. He had been 1-2 with a 7.07 ERA in three career starts in Cleveland.
T.J. McFarland gave the Orioles an important 1 2/3 innings of relief without allowing a run and he made two nice fielding plays. Zach Britton pitched the ninth for his 15th save in 16 chances.
With the game tied 2-2 in the top of the sixth, Jones hit a 0-1 slider off Shaun Marcum for his eighth homer. It's the second time in two days he hit one to provide a 3-2 lead. The O's added two big insurance runs in the eighth on a Travis Snider single, a Jones RBI triple and Wieters sac fly.
The Orioles took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a Wieters RBI double and a Ryan Flaherty RBI single. After a one-out walk to Chris Davis, Wieters doubled to left on a 3-2 pitch. After he moved to third on a groundout, Flaherty's single made it 2-0.
But Cleveland got even in the fifth. Held to one hit through four innings by Tillman, the Indians came up with four singles to tie it. They got RBI hits by Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley.
Cleveland was trying to get to the .500 mark for the first time since they were 2-2, but fall to 26-28 with the loss. The O's beat a hot Cleveland team that had won four of its last five and 14 of 20 games.
Tomorrow at 4:10 p.m., Ubaldo Jimenez (3-3, 3.12 ERA) faces his former team and pitches against right-hander Danny Salazar (5-1, 3.79 ERA).
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