Markakis ties Blair, Cruz gives Orioles lead (updated)

The sound of a cash register should play each time Nelson Cruz hits a home run. Cruz, such a bargain at $8 million this season, hit his 15th home run tonight leading off the bottom of the second inning. Nelson Cruz, meet T.J. House. T.J. House, this is Nelson Cruz. Cruz drove the first pitch from House, a 92 mph fastball, over the fence in right-center field to stake Orioles starter Bud Norris to a 1-0 lead. Cruz has homered in three of the last four games and five of nine. He's now tied with injured White Sox rookie Jose Abreu with the most home runs in the American League, and he broke a tie with Abreu for most RBIs with 43. In the first inning, Nick Markakis singled into right field to tie Paul Blair for eighth place on the club's all-time hits list with 1,426. Brian Roberts is seventh with 1,452. Markakis is now 17-for-40 (.425) leading off a game. Jonathan Schoop, batting second for the first time in the majors, grounded into a double play. Adam Jones followed with a double, extending his streak of reaching base to 17 games. Norris walked leadoff hitter Michael Bourn in the first and retired eight in a row before Bourn singled with two outs in the third inning. He threw 24 pitches in the first, 11 in the second and 13 in the third. Update: Markakis singled again leading off the third to break the tie with Blair. House hit Jones with one out and both runners scored on Chris Davis' double to right field, giving the Orioles a 3-0 lead. Davis has 23 RBIs in 34 games. Hardy singled, but the ball slammed off Davis' leg as he tried to jump over it. The shortstop gets the putout.