O’s take down Tribe’s House

Associated Press

BALTIMORE

T.J. House waited his entire life to start a game in the big leagues. When his chance finally arrived, the Cleveland Indians rookie had the misfortune of going up against one of the hottest-hitting teams in the major leagues.

House gave up five runs and 11 hits in six innings against the Baltimore Orioles, who got home runs from Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis in an 8-4 victory Friday night.

After pitching one inning in his big league debut last week, House was thrust into the strapped Cleveland rotation. He became the first left-hander to make his initial big league start with the Indians since David Huff on May 17, 2009.

Unfortunately, the 24-year-old went up against a team that now has scored 38 runs on 62 hits in its last five games.

“He gave up a lot of hits,” manager Terry Francona said. “He paid for some of those mistakes. But saying all that, he kept his poise.”

Not only that, but House (0-1) enjoyed himself.

“It was fun,” he said. “Obviously, the results didn’t end the way I wanted them to, but I had a good time out there and next time I get the chance to do it I hope to be able to perform a little better.”

Jason Giambi hit a three-run homer for Cleveland, the 439th of his career, breaking a tie with Andre Dawson for 41st place on the all-time HR list. Prior to connecting, the 43-year-old Giambi was 1 for 15 with no homers and no RBIs this year.

The drive gave the Indians a 4-3 lead.

“I’ve been taking some good at-bats,” Giambi said. “I just wanted to try to put a ball in play there to get us a run. We had a runner on third, less than two outs, and just kind of keep the train moving. I just kind of got it up in the air a little bit and it went out of the ballpark.”

The margin didn’t hold up, and the Indians’ four-game winning streak ended.

Davis homered and had four RBIs, Adam Jones had three hits and scored three runs and Nick Markakis had four hits for the Orioles.

Bud Norris (3-4) gave up four runs, six hits and three walks in six innings to earn his first win in four starts since May 1. It wasn’t his finest effort, but the run support certainly helped.

“These guys can swing,” Norris said. “They’re professional hitters. They’ve been doing it for a long time.”

Cruz put Baltimore up 1-0 with a shot to right-center in the second inning, and Davis doubled to right to make it 3-0 in the third.