O's get early offense, Markakis ends homer drought in win over A's

The Orioles got some early offense today and their starting pitcher worked out of some early trouble. It added up to a 10-3 win over the Oakland A's in front of 33,820 at Camden Yards. The Orioles won the series, completed a 5-4 homestand and improved to 70-59 on the season heading into a nine-game road trip that begins Tuesday at Boston. They are 13-6 in finales of three-game sets that decide the series winner and 24-14-4 in 42 series in 2013. Oakland had gone 105 consecutive games without allowing 10 runs, the second-longest streak in the American League since 1992. The last team to get 10 versus the A's? The Orioles on April 25 at Oakland. Nick Markakis ended two hitting droughts today. His double in the third snapped a 31-game stretch without an extra-base hit. He homered in the eighth to snap a 51-game homerless stretch with his first longball since June 24. Scott Feldman had an interesting outing, as he gave up just three hits and one run over five innings to get the win. He is 4-3 with an ERA of 4.56 in nine O's starts. But Oakland had threats mounted in the first, third and fifth innings, and Feldman walked four and fanned six as his pitch count quickly escalated. He was at 74 pitches after three innings and 102 through five. Even though the first five batters in the order reached, the A's went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position against Feldman. The Orioles, who went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring positon yesterday, went 3-for-5 over the first two innings today in taking an early 5-1 lead. The Orioles hit three sac flies today. This is just the third time since 2000 they did that, the first time since April 26, 2011 against Boston. Manny Machado went 2-for-2 today and drove in two with a pair of sac flies. Chris Davis singled in a run for his 118th RBI and Adam Jones drove in his 95th with a single. J.J. Hardy had a double and solo homer, his 23rd, among his three hits. Brian Roberts drove in a run and scored twice. Nate McLouth's two-run homer in the eighth capped the scoring. In winning the season series 5-2 against Oakland, the Orioles scored 48 runs versus A's pitching. In the series opener Tuesday at Boston, Wei-Yin Chen (7-6, 3.19 ERA) pitches for the Orioles against Boston lefty Felix Doubront (9-6, 3.79 ERA).