Orioles recap: Ubaldo Jimenez pitches eight innings as Birds earn doubleheader split vs. A's

Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez couldn't catch a break in last Sunday's loss to the Chicago White Sox, but he made his own luck in Saturday night's 5-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics before 29,862 at Camden Yards.

He held down his pitch count and worked through the eighth inning on the way to his second victory of the year, which allowed the Orioles (17-12) to split the rain-makeup doubleheader and move back into sole possession of first place in the American League East.

Jimenez (2-3) allowed nine hits – including four by A's outfielder Josh Reddick – but spread them evenly through his performance and walked just one. It was quite in contrast to his previous start, in which he pitched well for four innings and then wilted under a shower of soft singles.

“I try to forget what happened in the past, because there is nothing you can do with it," Jimenez said. “This is baseball. Every day is a new day, so you have to move on. If you want to be there for your team, you have to find a way to move on.”

This time, he worked quickly through the early innings and actually was treated to some margin for error when the struggling Orioles offense erupted for four runs in the third inning.

Caleb Joseph got the rally started with a one-out single and Manny Machado hit a long double before Hyun Soo Kim broke the scoreless tie with an RBI groundout. Adam Jones followed with a lined single to center for another run and Chris Davis made it 4-0 with his eighth homer of the season.

“Toward the end of the first game, we started to turn it on a little bit," Davis said. “You can’t wait forever. Days like today, you’ve got to grind it out. We’ve been doing a pretty good job of having quality at-bats, but the last couple weeks we haven’t gotten anything to fall or anything to build any momentum, but tonight we were able to do that.”

The Orioles added a fifth run in the fourth with some good luck of their own. Jonathan Schoop and Ryan Flaherty opened the inning with back-to-back infield singles and Schoop went to third on a continuation throwing error by A's first baseman Yonder Alonso. That quickly cost the A's a run when Schoop scored on a double-play ball by Joseph.

Though Jimenez appeared to be in control, Zach Britton came on to pitch a scoreless ninth and notch his seventh save.

Reddick rocks: Reddick tied a career high with four singles in the nightcap and completed a productive day. He went 3-for-5 in the afternoon game and finished with seven hits in nine at-bats. That raised his batting average from .260 to .301.

Kim bats second: Kim showed up in the upper third of the lineup for the first time this season and continued to find ways to contribute. He drove in the first run of the game with an RBI groundout and also had a leadoff single in the fifth inning. The 1-for-4 performance, however, dropped his batting average under .500 for the first time this season (.478).

peter.schmuck@baltsun.com

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Orioles recap: Ubaldo Jimenez pitches eight innings as Birds earn doubleheader split vs. A's

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