Radhames Liz pitched eight shutout innings, and the Baltimore Orioles hit five home runs in a 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.
Nick Markakis and Oscar Salazar each homered twice, and Lou Montanez also connected to help Baltimore salvage the finale of the three-game series. The five homers tied a season high for the Orioles, who had only five in their past six games.
Four of the home runs were off rookie Nick Blackburn, who had yielded only four homers in his previous nine starts. Blackburn (10-9) gave up six runs and nine hits in four innings.
Minnesota, which totaled 24 runs in a doubleheader sweep Saturday, was held scoreless until the ninth. The Twins started the day in a virtual tie with the Chicago White Sox for the AL Central lead.
Liz (6-5) gave up five hits, struck out four and walked one in his longest and most effective outing in the big leagues. Making his 19th career start, the right-hander did not permit a runner past second base.
In his last start, the erratic Liz threw 102 pitches against Cleveland and didn't get out of the fifth inning. In this one, he threw 108 pitches before being lifted.
George Sherrill started the ninth, but was ineffective in his first appearance since Aug. 15. The All-Star closer allowed an RBI single to Brian Buscher and was replaced by Jim Miller with the bases loaded.
Miller gave up a run-scoring single to Nick Punto and a sacrifice fly by Carlos Gomez before retiring Denard Span on a grounder to end it.
Markakis put the Orioles up 2-0 in the first inning with a liner that landed in the front row of the left-field seats.
Luke Scott led off the Baltimore second with a single and Salazar followed with a flyball to left that dropped into the seats just beyond the left-field wall.
Salazar and Montanez hit successive solo shots in the fourth to make it 6-0, and Markakis hit his 20th in the fifth off Philip Humber. It was the second career multihomer game for Markakis — both have come against the Twins — and the first for Salazar.
Notes:@ Liz's major league debut, his first career win and longest outing all came against the Twins. ... The last time the Twins gave up five homers in a game was June 17, 2007, against Milwaukee. ... The Twins are 3-7 in starts when Blackburn gives up a homer, and 7-2 when he does not. ... Baltimore is 36-37 at home, compared to 35-46 last year. ... Minnesota's eight-game winning streak at Camden Yards ended.
Copyright 2008 AP News
