Orioles' rally falls short as Tigers win to sweep series

By Steve Melewski

Orioles

May 14, 2014, 12:04pm

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It was Justin Verlander against Kevin Gausman, but this was no pitchers' duel. Detroit moved out to a 6-0 lead this afternoon and then held off the Orioles for a 7-5 win and sweep of this three-game series in front of 36,727 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles have lost four in a row to fall to 20-18. They are 1-5 against the Tigers and 3-9 against the American League Central.

Detroit scored two in the third and three in the fourth off Gausman to take a 5-0 lead, and added an unearned run in the sixth off Miguel Gonzalez to go up 6-0. Rajai Davis homered in the sixth to give Detroit a 7-5 edge.

Gausman, in his first Orioles start of the season, went just four innings and gave up six hits and five runs with two walks and two strikeouts. He threw 87 pitches and took the loss.

In the last of the fourth, Verlander threw a pitch behind Nelson Cruz. It made you wonder if that was his response to Bud Norris hitting Torii Hunter on Monday night.

That seemed to wake up the dormant O's bats, as they scored five runs in the fifth to pull within 6-5. Adam Jones and Chris Davis produced RBI singles and Cruz hit a three-run homer to left on a 1-2 curveball. It was his 11th homer and he now has 33 RBIs.

Verlander went six innings. He gave up six hits and a season-high five runs. He had not allowed more than three runs in any of his eight starts. But he got the win to go to 5-2 with a 3.15 ERA.

Down 7-5 in the eighth, the O's loaded the bases with two outs but Joba Chamberlin got Nick Markakis on a fly out to center to end that threat. Markakis went 0-for-13 in this series.

The Orioles had scored just four total runs over their previous three games and had scored three or fewer runs in 13 of 18 games at Camden Yards on the season. They got some offense today, but still came up short to Detroit.

Now the O's hit the road for a six-game trip to Kansas City and Pittsburgh. Tomorrow night against the Royals, Wei-Yin Chen (4-2, 3.95 ERA) pitches against Yordano Ventura (2-2, 2.34 ERA).