Nationals hit three homers, get five off Norris in 6-2 win over the Orioles

Bud Norris returned from the disabled list tonight, but not with the stuff or the results he had before his DL trip. Norris allowed five runs tonight to tie his season-high as Washington hit three homers and beat the Orioles 6-2 at Camden Yards. The Orioles fall to 49-41 with their second loss in nine games. Their American League East lead stays at 2 1/2 games as second-place Toronto lost this afternoon. Manny Machado's bat stayed hot in the loss. He went 3-for-4 with a pair of singles and a solo homer. It was Machado's ninth homer and his fifth in his last eight games. Chris Davis went 2-for-4 with an RBI single, producing his first multi-hit game since June 11. Over these last two games against Washington, Machado is 8-for-10 and in four games since his suspension ended, he is 12-for-21 with two doubles, two homers and three RBIs. Making his first start since returning from a right groin strain, Norris was not sharp. He gave up two doubles and a homer to the first eight batters he faced and lasted just four innings plus two batters. Norris allowed six hits and five runs with one walk, two strikeouts and two homers. He threw 71 pitches and fell to 7-6 with an ERA of 3.96. In his last three starts before he went on the disabled list, Norris was 3-0 with an ERA of 0.92, giving up just two runs and one homer over 19 2/3 innings. The Nationals (49-40) got solo homers from Wilson Ramos, Ian Desmond and Jayson Werth, who drove in two. The Nats have won eight of their last 10. Winning pitcher Doug Fister entered this outing with a career 5.30 ERA against the Orioles, but he gave up just two runs and seven hits over seven innings. Fister is now 8-2 with an ERA of 2.90 as he slowed an O's offense that had scored 57 runs over the previous nine games. In the finale of this two-game series and three-game stretch against the Nationals on Thursday night, Wei-Yin Chen (8-3, 4.12 ERA) faces Gio Gonzalez (6-4, 3.52 ERA). Gonzalez will take a 22-inning scoreless streak into the game.