BALTIMORE _ The last time the Orioles and Houston Astros crossed paths, the Astros pitching staff embarrassed the big-swinging O's lineup with a major league-record 52 strikeouts in the three-game series at Minute Maid Park.
Whether the Orioles had a score to settle or just needed to bounce back from a two-game sweep at the hands of the rival Boston Red Sox, they took out their frustrations Thursday night with a six-homer performance and a resounding 13-5 victory before 20,288 at Camden Yards.
Mark Trumbo crushed a three-run shot off rookie starter Joe Musgrove in the first inning to begin the homerfest and J.J. Hardy had his second two-homer performance of the season. Hardy's second of the game touched off a meteor shower in a five-run sixth inning that included back-to-back home runs by Manny Machado and Chris Davis.
Davis, who has been trying to pry himself out of a long hitting slump, landed a ball on Eutaw Street for the second night in a row. It was his 10th career Eutaw blast and the 89th overall in the history of Oriole Park. He followed that up in his next at-bat with his 27th homer of the year, another towering shot that landed deep in the center-field bleachers and gave him his first multihomer game of the year.
It seemed like just about everyone in the Orioles lineup wanted to make sure that Kevin Gausman finally got some run support. Every hitter except Matt Wieters had at least one hit before Gausman was replaced by Mychal Givens in the seventh inning. Hyun Soo Kim hit safely in four of his five at-bats, raising his team-leading batting average to .329.
Gausman pitched well while the game was in doubt. He allowed just two runs through the first five innings, but allowed a long home run to Alex Bregman in the sixth and a two-run shot to A.J. Reed in the seventh. He allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings and struck out eight to get the victory, improving his record to 4-10.
The win moved the Orioles (67-53) back into a second-place tie with the Red Sox, who lost an afternoon game to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Both teams now trail the idle Toronto Blue Jays by 1 { games.
The 13-run outburst equaled the Orioles' biggest offensive performance of the season. They scored 13 runs on June 1 against the Red Sox.
