Ryan Howard's two-run homer lifts Philadelphia past Orioles

The Orioles came up one run short in their attempt to take four in a row from the Philadelphia Phillies.

Ryan Howard's two-run homer off Bud Norris in the last of the sixth gave the Phillies their first lead of the four games and they made it stand up for a 2-1 win. The O's had taken the first three games by a combined 29-7 score. Philadelphia (23-45) snapped a nine-game losing streak.

Today's game started well for the Orioles when Manny Machado hit a leadoff homer on the fifth pitch from Sean O'Sullivan. He got a 91 mph fastball over the outside corner and drove it out to right for his 14th homer to tie his career high.

It is Machado's third leadoff homer of the year. He has hit three homers the last three games and eight in his last 18 games. Brady Anderson holds the club record for leadoff homers with 12 in 1996.

The Orioles have hit 11 homers the last three games and 20 in the last eight.

But Howard's homer put Philadelphia ahead in the sixth. Norris had a three-hit shutout through five innings, but the sixth started with an infield single to short by Ben Revere and Howard's two-run shot on a 1-2 fastball at 95 mph gave the Phillies the one-run lead.

Norris went six innings, allowing five hits and two runs with two walks and strikeouts. He threw 84 pitches and is now 2-5 with an ERA of 7.57.

After an eight-game stretch without a quality start, the O's rotation has now recorded four in a row with an ERA of 2.70 in that span.

The O's missed some scoring chances in this game. They left runners on second and third in the first, and on first and third with one out in the seventh when Luis Garcia fanned Machado and Travis Snider, who struck out four times today.

J.J. Hardy went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. He is batting .390 (16-for-41) during the run.

The Orioles lost for just the second time in 11 games and third time in 14. They are 34-32 overall, 10-9 in one-run games and 12-19 in road games.

Now the Orioles head to Toronto for a weekend series. On Friday night, Mike Wright (2-2, 4.13 ERA) pitches against right-hander Marco Estrada (4-3, 4.24 ERA).