Tribe comeback derailed by O’s

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Zach Britton pitched six shutout innings, J.J. Hardy drove in three runs and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians 4-3 Sunday for their fifth straight win.

Britton (1-0) gave up four hits in his second start since being recalled from the minors. He struck out five and got 11 other outs on grounders.

Luis Ayala gave up a two-run homer to Cleveland’s Carlos Santana with one out in the ninth.

Jim Johnson came on and got two outs for his 30th save in 32 chances. He yielded a double to Shelley Duncan and a pinch-hit RBI single to Travis Hafner that made it 4-3.

Hardy hit a two-run homer in the first off Josh Tomlin (5-7) and an RBI single in the seventh against reliever Esmil Rogers.

The Orioles will go for their first four-game sweep in Cleveland in 41 years today. The last time they did it, in September 1971, Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson and Jim Palmer all earned their 20th wins in the series. Dave McNally already had 20 wins and the quartet made Baltimore the last team with four 20-game winners in one season.

Cleveland has lost four in a row and seven of nine.

The Indians have been shut out twice in 10 games since the All-Star break.

Except for a 10-6 win over Tampa Bay and an 11-9 loss at Toronto, the Indians have totaled 12 runs in their other eight games.

Nick Markakis opened the game with a single and scored on Hardy’s 14th homer.

Hardy made it 3-0 in the seventh. Ryan Flaherty walked, was bunted to second and moved to third on an infield single by Markakis. Hardy then lined a single to left.

Betemit’s 11th homer, off former Orioles reliever Jeremy Accardo, made it 4-0 in the eighth.