Orioles offense breaks out in 9-3 win at Detroit in series finale

The Orioles offense broke out today and it included a big inning, 14 hits, a couple of home runs and even hits with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles went 4-for-5 with RISP in the top of the fourth today against 2011 American League Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander. They scored six runs that inning to break a 1-1 tie on their way to a 9-3 victory over Detroit.

Coming into this game, the Orioles were 2-for-21 in this series with RISP and 3-for-57 over their last eight games. Today they went 6-for-10 with RISP.

The Orioles had lost six of seven heading into this series, but they take the games Saturday and Sunday to improve to 46-45 and pick up their first series win since June 26-28 against Cleveland.

Adam Jones provided a 1-0 lead with a first-inning homer, his 15th. Of Jones' 44 homers since the start of the 2014 season, 19 have been hit in the first inning. Jones went 3-for-5. Over his last four games, he is 9-for-18 with a double, three homers and three RBIs. Jones has hit five homers in his last nine games.

During the Orioles' six-run fourth, J.J. Hardy had a two-run double with the bases loaded, Jonathan Schoop a three-run homer and Manny Machado an RBI single. Hardy had just two RBIs his previous 12 games.

Schoop's sixth homer of the season came in his 18th game and 57th at-bat. In the minors this year, he hit four homers in 34 at-bats. Schoop hammered an 0-1 fastball from Verlander, who gave up eight hits and seven runs over 3 2/3 innings to fall to 0-3 with an ERA of 6.62.

Chris Parmelee's two-run single in the eighth made it 9-2. The Orioles had scored nine runs or more just once in the last 15 games - when they scored nine on July 5 against the White Sox. They had scored 23 runs their last eight games.

Miguel Gonzalez, who entered with an ERA of 7.53 over his last four starts, got the win. He went five innings allowing six hits and two runs to go to 8-6 with an ERA of 4.21 in 17 starts. The Orioles are 10-7 in those starts.

After an off-day on Monday, the Orioles move on to New York to face the first-place Yankees beginning Tuesday night. In the series opener, Wei-Yin Chen (4-5, 2.78 ERA) faces right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (9-2, 4.50 ERA). The Orioles will begin that series four games back of New York.