Nelson Cruz hits No. 40 as the Orioles beat New York

Nelson Cruz hit his major league-leading 40th homer and Nick Markakis drove in three to break out of a batting slump as the Orioles beat New York 5-4 at Yankee Stadium. The Orioles are 94-63 with the win. That is their most wins since the 1997 Orioles won 98. Cruz's solo shot leading off the fifth off Brandon McCarthy made him the sixth player in the O's history to hit 40 or more. That list also includes Chris Davis (53 in 2013), Brady Anderson (50 in 1996), Frank Robinson (49 in 1966), Jim Gentile (46 in 1961) and Rafael Palmeiro (43 in 1998). Cruz and Robinson are the only right-handed batters to hit 40 homers in club history. Cruz had gone 14 games without a homer since he homered twice with seven RBIs Sept. 7 at Tampa Bay. Markakis began the night in a 6-for-43 slump and batting just .152 over his last 27 games. But he went 4-for-5 with an RBI single and a two-run homer. Kelly Johnson led off the second with a homer to right and Markakis added an RBI single for a 2-0 lead that grew to 4-0 on Markakis' homer in the fourth. Cruz's blast in the fifth made it 5-1. One night after being held to one hit, the Orioles had 17 hits as Cruz and Johnson went 3-for-5 each. Nick Hundley was 3-for-4. The O's season high for hits is 20 on April 8 at New York. The Orioles are 49-11 when they have a multi-homer game and now 26-0 when they hit three or more homers. Baltimore improves to 34-1 since July 19 when scoring four runs or more. The Orioles are 9-2 in games after they were shut out. Ubaldo Jimenez picked up his second win in a week, going five innings plus two batters. He gave up three hits and two runs with three walks and three strikeouts. Jimenez, who threw 91 pitches, is 6-9 with an ERA of 4.85. The Orioles are 6-1 in his last seven starts. A 5-2 O's lead was cut to 5-4 when Brian McCann hit a two-run homer in the seventh off Andrew Miller. But Tommy Hunter pitched a scoreless eighth and Zach Britton pitched the ninth for his 36th save in 40 chances. He struck out Derek Jeter with a runner on first to end it. This series is even at a win each. The Orioles are 12-5 against New York and 45-26 against the American League East. On Wednesday afternoon at 1:05 p.m., Bud Norris (14-8, 3.62 ERA) pitches against Shane Greene (5-3, 3.24 ERA).