Thome homers; Tribe stumbles

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Jim Thome is still leaving his mark at Progressive Field.

A day after moving into sole possession of seventh place on the all-time home run list, Thome struck again. His two-run homer in the seventh inning led the Baltimore Orioles to their fourth straight victory, 3-1 over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night.

Thome, who passed Sammy Sosa on the career list on Friday, hit his 611th — and second with Baltimore since being acquired from Philadelphia on July 1. He homered off Zach McAllister (4-2) to wipe out a 1-0 deficit.

Chris Tillman (2-1) allowed only Shin Soo-Choo’s leadoff homer in the first over 6 2-3 innings. The right-hander, making his third start of the season since being called up earlier this month, gave up six hits, struck out four and walked one.

Jim Johnson pitched the ninth for his league-leading 29th save.

Thome hit a 1-0 pitch to right field after J.J. Hardy started the seventh with a single. Ryan Flaherty added a solo shot in the eighth for his second homer in as many games.

Thome has 190 career homers at Progressive Field. The left-handed slugger holds Cleveland’s career record with 337 homers. A key part of the Indians’ powerful lineup from 1991-2002, Thome returned for the final two months of the 2011 season.

Thome admitted playing in Cleveland holds extra meaning.

“There’s a lot memories,” he said. “I’ve had great memories on that side and then coming in here as an opponent against them.

“Any time you come home, they say, it’s very special. It’s even more special to get the W’s. That’s, I think, the main thing. The bottom line is I played here a long time.”

Orioles manager Buck Showalter has learned quickly the positive effect Thome can have on a team.

“He actually does a lot of things other than swing a bat and hit a ball where they can’t catch it,” Showalter said. “He just impacts a team so many ways.

“He walks through the door every day with a smile on his face. He’s a lot of fun to have around, but he also is a competitive guy. He’s locked in on every pitch. You see guys always talking to him because he’s so engaging and everybody’s so comfortable talking to him.”

“When you hit over 600 homers, you’ve gotten a lot of people,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “You have to give credit to Jim. Zach went after him with a fastball like he had the whole game and Jimmy just got him.”

McAllister didn’t think his fastball on the inner half of the plate to Thome was a bad pitch.

“I stayed in there the whole game,” McAllister said. “He missed one the at-bat before. I tried to go back in there and he didn’t miss that one.”