BALTIMORE _ Nolan Reimold needed that.
The Orioles' longtime reserve outfielder stepped up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on a sizzling Sunday afternoon and drilled a two-run, pinch-hit walk-off home run to give the Orioles a 5-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians and a sweep of the three-game series at Oriole Park.
It had been a tough month for Reimold, who got off to a solid start at the plate this season but had managed just one hit since July 2 and had struck out six times in his last three starts.
The pinch-hit, walk-off homer was the first by an Orioles hitter since June 23, 2014, when Chris Davis launched one against the Chicago White Sox.
This one capped a strange but rewarding game for the Orioles in which Vance Worley stepped up in his fourth start of the season with a strong seven-inning performance in which he gave up just two runs on five hits.
It remains to be determined whether the Orioles' pitching problems are over, but strong starts by Worley and Dylan Bundy against the first-place Indians certainly eased the pressure on the front office to acquire another starting pitcher _ at least for the moment.
Worley gave up two runs in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Tyler Naquin and a sacrifice fly by Roberto Perez. Those runs looked imposing with Indians starter Corey Kluber cruising early, but the Orioles answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Manny Machado and a hustle play RBI grounder by Pedro Alvarez.
The Orioles added a run on a solo homer by Jonathan Schoop and turned the game over to Brad Brach in the eighth, but he gave up a run for the second game in a row and the game came down to the ninth inning.
Darren O'Day got the crowd of 37,821 going by striking out the side in his first game back from a long stint on the disabled list and Alvarez reached base on a strange strikeout/passed ball/throwing error. Ryan Flaherty moved him up with a sacrifice bunt and Caleb Joseph struck out before Reimold got his moment in the hot sun.
