BALTIMORE _ The Orioles looked like they might be the victim of a no-hitter on Tuesday night, but they waited for Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer to exit the game, then rallied to score their sixth straight victory before an announced 26,348 at Camden Yards.
Scherzer carried the no-hit bid into the sixth inning and the Nationals carried a two-run lead into the ninth, but the O's forced the game into extra innings and scored a 5-4 victory, which gave them the best record in the major leagues at 22-10.
Mark Trumbo finally ended it in the bottom of the 12th inning with a line drive down the left-field line that gave them a sweep of the home half of the four-game interleague rivalry series with the first-place Nationals.
Adam Jones started the rally with a line-drive single to right and Manny Machado poked a bouncer up the middle to send Jones to third. The Nationals chose to walk Chris Davis intentionally and Trumbo hit the first pitch from Nationals reliever Jacob Turner.
The game was supposed to be one the biggest pitching mismatches of the season, but it turned into a classic pitching duel. Scherzer allowed just two runs on four hits over eight innings and struggling Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez allowed just two hits over seven innings before he finally blinked in the eighth.
The Nationals got back-to-back singles to open that inning and pitch hitter Adam Lind launched a tiebreaking three-run homer over the center-field fence that figured to send the Nationals home with a win.
Instead, Jones homered off Scherzer in the eighth and the Orioles got run-scoring hits from Jonathan Schoop and J.J. Hardy to send the game into extra innings.
Orioles fans saw the side of Jimenez that persuaded the Orioles to sign him to a rich four-year contract before the 2014 season. He was efficient and overpowering until the Nationals opened the eighth inning with a pair of singles _ one of them a blooper over the infield. He struck out No. 8 hitter Chris Heisey before Lind batted for Michael Taylor and launched a towering fly ball that survived an acrobatic attempt by Jones to keep it in the ballpark.
Logan Verrett pitched three innings of two-hit relief for the win.
Though Scherzer had a no-hit bid at the time, he and Jimenez were having similar outings at the end of the fifth inning. Both had pitched to the same number of batters, with Scherzer throwing 71 pitches and Jimenez throwing 70. The only real difference at that point was the solo home run by Daniel Murphy in the second inning. Smith canceled that out in the sixth and the game entered the seventh with both teams combining for three hits.
