Wild fifth inning helps Orioles defeat Nationals

BALTIMORE - Luke Scott homered, Melvin Mora hit a tiebreaking double in the fifth inning, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Nationals, 5-3, last night for their sixth win in seven games.

Lefthander Garrett Olson (3-0) struggled through five innings but remained undefeated in four starts since being recalled from triple-A Norfolk on April 29. Olson allowed three runs and nine hits while striking out three.

The wild two-run fifth inning by Baltimore - two baserunners were thrown out and Washington outfielders twice misjudged fly balls - broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Orioles their third consecutive come-from-behind victory. It also snapped Baltimore's four-game losing streak to the Nationals.

Brian Roberts led off with a triple off the wall in right field against Shawn Hill (0-1). Roberts, who reached third when the ball caromed past Elijah Dukes and into short right, scored when centerfielder Lastings Milledge misplayed Mora's fly ball to right-center.

After Nick Markakis struck out, Mora was tagged out during a rundown between second and third when Aubrey Huff hit a sharp comebacker to Hill. Kevin Millar followed with an RBI single to center, but was thrown out trying to advance to second after Huff scored for a 5-3 Orioles lead.

Matt Albers worked two scoreless innings, Jim Johnson struck out the side in the eighth, and George Sherrill got the final three outs for his 16th save in 18 tries.

Washington 200 100 000–3 11 1

Baltimore 002 120 00x–5 9 0

Washington AB   R   H   BI   Avg.      Baltimore AB   R   H   BI   Avg.

FLopez 2b 5   1   1   0   .267      BRoberts 2b 4   2   2   0   .271

CGuzman ss 5   1   1   0   .293      Mora 3b 3   0   1   1   .253

Zimmerman 3b 5   0   3   2   .244      Markakis rf 4   0   1   1   .260

DmYoung dh 4   0   1   0   .333      Huff dh 4   1   0   0   .255

Boone 1b 3   1   1   0   .328      Millar 1b 3   0   1   1   .232

Milledge cf 4   0   2   0   .245      Scott lf 3   1   1   1   .273

Flores c 3   0   2   0   .393      Payton lf 1   0   0   0   .225

WPena lf 4   0   0   0   .200      RHernandez c 3   0   1   0   .218

Dukes rf 3   0   0   1   .048      AJones cf 3   1   2   0   .245

Totals 36   3   11   3

Bynum ss 3   0   0   0   .280

Totals 31   5   9   4

E:

FLopez (4).

LOB:

Washington 9, Baltimore 4.

2B:

CGuzman (12), Mora (8), Markakis (5).

3B:

BRoberts (2).

HR:

Scott (3), off SHill.

RBIs:

Zimmerman 2 (23), Dukes (1), Mora (22), Markakis (19), Millar (21), Scott (14).

SF:

Dukes.

GIDP:

Dukes.

RLSP:

Washington 2 (FLopez, Milledge); Baltimore 2 (Huff, Payton).

RA:

Huff.

DP:

Baltimore 1 (Bynum, BRoberts and Millar).

Washington walks (1):

Flores.

Baltimore walks (2):

Mora, Millar.

Washington strikeouts (9):

FLopez, DmYoung, Boone 2, Flores, WPena 2, Dukes 2.

Baltimore strikeouts (4):

Markakis, Huff, Millar, Bynum.

Washington IP   H   R   ER   BB   SO   NP   ERA

SHill(L) 5   8   5   4   2   3   99   4.08

Chico 21/3   1   0   0   0   0   21   6.07

Colome 2/3   0   0   0   0   1   6   3.38

Baltimore IP   H   R   ER   BB   SO   NP   ERA

Olson(W) 5   9   3   3   0   3   70   3.47

Albers(H) 2   2   0   0   1   3   42   2.15

JJohnson(H) 1   0   0   0   0   3   15   1.14

Sherrill(S) 1   0   0   0   0   0   8   3.60

W:

Olson, 3-0.

L:

SHill, 0-1.

S:

Sherrill, 16.

H:

JJohnson, 5.

H:

Albers, 3.

Albers pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.

IR-S:

Colome 1-0, JJohnson 1-0.

HBP:

by Olson (Boone).

Umpires:

Home, Mike Everitt; First, Tim McClelland; Second, Mike DiMuro; Third, Larry Vanover.

T:

2:33.

A:

29,266 (48,290).