There is life in the Orioles, Baltimore.
Baltimore overcome an unsteady performance from pitcher Daniel Cabrera, with four home runs against the Detroit Tigers Tuesday and got a clutch RBI single from Melvin Mora in the eighth inning for a 7-6 win.
The night saw the Orioles put an end to a five-game losing streak before 16,516 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
“Detroit?s a solid team,” Orioles right fielder Jay Gibbons said. “They?re playing as well as anybody. Obviously, you can?t take them lightly. You can beat anybody any day of the week. You just have to play better.”
The Orioles certainly looked better offensively. The win could not have come at a better time for the Orioles, who had dropped seven of their last eight contests coming into the game.
The pre-game clubhouse was contrary to what many might think a team a team now four games below .500 might look like. The players were loose and chatty, ready to reverse their recent trend.
“We all know that in baseball, that?s how it goes sometimes,” center fielder Corey Patterson said of the losing streak. “You?re going to go through some rough times. You just don?t want to go through too many of them.”
In the fifth inning, the Tigers added three runs on a bases-loaded triple from Carlos Guillen and it basically ended Cabrera?s night.
The Orioles had a short-lived lead in the third inning when Miguel Tejada hit a two-run home run, only to see the Tigers score two of their own in the fourth. Down 5-2, they made a comeback in the sixth, when Jeff Conine hit a two-run shot of his own.
The Tigers? Magglio Ordonez hit a solo home run off reliever Todd Williams to give his team a 6-4 lead in the seventh.
Baltimore?s Melvin Mora and Gibbons answered with solo shots in the seventh to tie the game.
Mora then drove in Luis Terrero for the win in the eighth.
Coaches and teammates were hoping before the game that Cabrera was starting to shed his walk-heavy ways.
“He?s got good enough stuff to pitch really well, deep into the games,” Orioles? manager Sam Perlozzo said. “I think he?s showing that and he?s going to get better and better as we go.”
“He made the adjustments,” Patterson said. “He didn?t panic. You?ve just got to turn the page and I think that?s what he?s done.”
Hardly anyone doubted Cabrera?s ability to throw high velocity pitches, but many did not feel he had control over where those pitches were headed in the first two games of the season.
“When he?s on, when he?s throwing strikes, he?s almost unbeatable if you score any runs,” Gibbons said.
The Orioles are also hoping Monday could mark the return of second baseman Brian Roberts. Roberts, currently on the 15-day disabled list, said: “I?ve never been on the DL, so it?s been hard to watch your team go through struggles and not be able to be there.”
