Patience pays off for Orioles, Flaherty homer gives them lead (O's win 6-4)

Ryan Flaherty led off the bottom of the seventh inning tonight by homering to right field off Rangers left-hander Neal Cotts and giving the Orioles a 5-4 lead at Camden Yards. Flaherty has four home runs this season, including one on Sunday. They've all come at home. The Orioles finally got rid of Rangers starter Miles Mikolas in the sixth inning, and they did it by keeping the bat on their shoulder while plate umpire Toby Basner tried to figure out the strike zone. Mikolas, in his first major league start, took a 4-1 lead into the inning before issuing back-to-back walks to Nick Markakis and Steve Pearce with one out. Markakis walked on five pitches, Pearce on six. Jason Frasor entered the game and advanced the runners with a wild pitch. Adam Jones followed with a fly ball to right-center field that scored Markakis and reduced the lead to 4-2. At that point, Jones had driven in both of the Orioles' runs and increased his RBI total to 51. Nelson Cruz singled off the left field fence, a rope that could have held wet laundry, and Pearce scored to bring the Orioles' within a run. Cruz now has 68 RBIs on the season. Chris Davis followed with an eight-pitch walk - more patience from the Orioles - and J.J. Hardy singled off the glove of diving shortstop Elvis Andrus to tie the game. Three walks from a team that tends to attack pitches like a hungry doberman. Hardy has collected eight hits in his last 17 at-bats. He's hit only two home runs this season, but his average is up to .298. The Orioles have tied their season high with six consecutive multi-homer games. Brad Brach got out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and struck out the first two batters he faced in the seventh. Leonys Martin reached on an infield hit and Brach picked him off. Brach hasn't allowed a run in 7 2/3 innings since being recalled on June 21. Update: The Orioles added another run in the seventh when Steve Pearce walked with two outs, moved up on a balk and scored on Adam Jones' bloop hit to left. Jones has three RBIs tonight and 52 on the season. Update II: The Orioles completed a 6-4 victory over the Rangers after a 1-hour, 38-minute rain delay at Camden Yards. Brach gets the win and Zach Britton records his 11th save to tie Tommy Hunter for the team lead. Britton retired the side in order with two strikeouts. The Orioles (45-39) are six games above .500, tying their season-high on May 10. They remain one game behind Toronto in the American League East.