As Orioles starter Kevin Millwood threw quality start after quality start earlier this season, only to get handed no-decisions and losses because of a lackluster offense, no one in the clubhouse was more outspoken about letting Millwood down than center fielder Adam Jones.
Jones kept saying it was the responsibility of the Orioles hitters to hold up their end of the bargain because Millwood was pitching like the ace he was advertised to be.
On Thursday night, in an 11-5 victory before an announced 15,397 that helped the Orioles avoid being swept at home by the Florida Marlins, it was payback time for Jones and the much-maligned offense, which tied a season-high with 17 hits and handed the previously hard-luck Millwood a shaky but satisfying win.
The veteran right-hander survived five innings, laboring through 116 pitches and throwing just 52 percent of them for strikes, his worst strike percentage of the season. Millwood, who turned in his shortest outing since a five-inning stint on Opening Day, struggled from the outset Thursday, allowing two runs in the first and one in the second to put his team into a 3-0 hole.
Yet Millwood (2-8) picked up his second consecutive win after losing his first eight decisions to start the year.
The assist went to Jones, on his mini-bobblehead-giveaway night, as well as to Miguel Tejada, who collected his second RBI in 101 at-bats with a single in the third and then broke his career-worst homerless streak of 205 at-bats with a three-run shot in the seventh.
It was Tejada's first homer since going deep against Boston's Daniel Bard on April 30. Tejada's four RBIs on Thursday matched his total for his previous 30 games.
Jones had three hits and two RBIs, including a solo homer in the sixth against Florida reliever Alejandro Sanabia, who was making his major league debut.
After a slow start, the center fielder has five homers and 14 RBIs in his past 17 games.
"What we're seeing is when he's getting a good pitch to hit, a fastball, he's putting a good swing on it, and the results have showed," Orioles manager Juan Samuel said before Thursday's game. "We just leave those guys alone, stay out of their way, let them do what they do. But he is getting better pitches to hit of late, and he's putting good swings on them."
Jones and Tejada weren't the only ones to break out against the Marlins and Florida starter Nate Robertson (5-6), who retired six of the first seven batters he faced before unraveling in the Orioles' five-run third.
The club hadn't scored at least that many runs in a game in 20 of their last 23 contests.
The Orioles sent 10 batters to the plate in the third and strung together six consecutive hits, the second time in two nights they had a six-hit inning. They also did it in a four-run second Wednesday in a 7-5 loss.
Reserve catcher Craig Tatum, who had a career-high three hits, including two doubles, got the Orioles started in the third with a leadoff double. Cesar Izturis followed with a bunt single that looped over Robertson's head and landed safely in the grass.
Robertson then yielded four straight singles before Luke Scott hit a sacrifice fly to tie the score at 3, and then Jones gave the Orioles the lead with an RBI double.
Millwood almost handed it back in the fifth when he walked the first two batters and allowed a one-out RBI single to Dan Uggla. But with two outs and two on, Millwood threw his 116th and final pitch of the night -- a 93 mph fastball -- past 20-year-old Marlins phenom Mike Stanton for the third out.
The bullpen took over from there. Jason Berken threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts, David Hernandez threw a perfect inning with two strikeouts and Matt Albers finished by allowing one run on two hits in the ninth.
The Orioles (20-52) ended an 11-game losing streak to the Marlins (35-37) while scoring in double digits for just the second time this season.
Last year, in a 98-loss season, the Orioles picked up their 20th win May 26 -- almost a month earlier than this year's club.