BALTIMORE _ The Orioles had every right to come home from Denver with a mile-high hangover. They suffered another staggering walk-off loss on Sunday, their flight back was delayed by a hail storm and they rolled out of bed to play their Memorial Day afternoon game on half a night's sleep.
If that sounds like a prescription for a day of fatigue and frustration, the O's instead found the perfect antidote. They welcomed a Detroit Tigers team that has been struggling right along with them and scored four times in the first three innings of a 5-3 victory before an announced crowd of 18,004 at Camden Yards.
Right-hander Gabriel Ynoa delivered a short-but-solid spot start, allowing two runs on five hits before a heavy pitch count and a rocky fourth inning forced him to turn a two-run lead over to Dan Straily for the fifth.
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The Orioles wasted no time building that early lead. Hanser Alberto, who has become one of the club's most consistent hitters, led off the bottom of the first inning with a bunt single and ended up at second base on a throwing error. Jonathan Villar followed with a sacrifice bunt, but if the O's were trying to play little ball, Renato Nunez didn't get the memo.
He came up one out later and hit a mammoth fly ball that hit the very top of the left field foul pole for his 13th homer of the season and fifth home run in his last six games.
Nunez has been streaky this year. He got off to a quick start in April and then lapsed into a 4-for-52 slump before righting himself and scorching the ball over the past eight games.
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Last week against the Yankees and Rockies, he had a .400/.483/1.040 slash line to go with his five home runs, eight runs scored and 10 RBIs, a performance that should make him a strong candidate for American League Player of the Week.
Ynoa allowed a run in the second on a double by Tigers third baseman Brandon Dixon and a two-out RBI single by catcher Grayson Greiner, but the Orioles got two more runs in the third when Trey Mancini scored all the way from first on a throwing error and Pedro Severino scored Nunez from third on a sacrifice fly.
When things got dicey for Ynoa, Straily took over and initially looked like he might pick up where he left off as a starter. He was making his first relief appearance since his Orioles debut and was coming off four straight rocky starts in which he had given up 21 earned runs in 16 innings.
He allowed a single to the first batter he faced and gave up a run-scoring double to Nicholas Castellanos, who would make a base running mistake to help Straily get out of the inning with the Orioles still on top. After that, he did not give up another hit until second baseman Josh Harrison led off the ninth with a single.
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The Orioles would pad their lead in the seventh, when Villar launched a long home run that landed just below the scoreboard in the center field bleachers, but that would not be enough to prevent another cliff-hanger finish.
Shawn Armstrong walked the first batter he faced in the ninth to put the potential tying run on base and both runners moved up on defensive indifference to build the suspense, but Armstrong retired the next three batters to record only the second save of his major league career.
