BALTIMORE – Buck Showalter's difficult task of turning around the last-place Baltimore Orioles began with a victory.
Luke Scott hit a two-run homer and Josh Bell added a two-run double for his first major league RBIs in a big sixth inning, and the Orioles came back to beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-3 Tuesday night to make Showalter 1-0 as Baltimore's manager.
It was Showalter's first game as a skipper since the end of the 2006 season, when he was with the Texas Rangers. He's the third manager of 2010 for Baltimore, which is a majors-worst 33-73, and drew a roar from the Camden Yards crowd of 16,723 simply by jogging out of the dugout to clarify a call with the home umpire.
The Orioles had lost three consecutive games and eight of their past nine.
Jeremy Guthrie (5-11) went seven innings, allowing three runs and five hits. The right-hander has now won two of his past three starts after going 0-6 in his previous nine.
With Los Angeles leading 2-1 in the sixth, Francisco Rodriguez (0-2) replaced Angels starter Trevor Bell after a leadoff walk and immediately gave up Scott's shot to right, his 19th homer.
One out later, Felix Pie singled and stole second, and Rodriguez intentionally walked Matt Wieters. That brought up No. 8 hitter Josh Bell, a rookie third baseman who had been 0 for 9 since being recalled Saturday from Triple-A Norfolk but drove the ball to the left-field corner.
That made it 5-2, and the Angels cut the deficit to two runs on Mike Napoli's RBI single to right off Guthrie. But Baltimore made it 6-3 in the eighth, on Wieters' run-scoring single, his second RBI of the game. That inning ended when Torii Hunter — an All-Star center fielder playing in right for the first time since 1999 — threw out Wieters at the plate. Wieters was trying to score from second on a single by Cesar Izturis.
Michael Gonzalez got five outs, and Alfredo Simon came on to strike out Howie Kendrick for the final out.
In the fifth, Kendrick had turned on a 95 mph fastball from Guthrie and drove it over the left-field wall for a two-run homer.
Wieters made it 2-1 by doubling home Pie in the fifth. When Pie arrived at the dugout, he was greeted by teammates and coaches for dozens of high-fives and slaps on the back. Showalter, though, remained at his perch on the top step, eyes glued to the field.
After a procession of four consecutive first-time managers, Baltimore is turning to a veteran in Showalter. In his previous stints in the majors, Showalter went 882-833 with the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers, getting credit for overseeing quick improvements at each stop and twice winning Manager of the Year awards.
"Believe me," he said before the game, "if there's some adjustments to be made, I won't be overly cautious."
NOTES: Assuming Showalter finishes out 2010, the Orioles will be the first team in major league history to have three men manage at least 50 games in a season. Dave Trembley went 15-39 before being fired June 4, and his replacement, interim manager Juan Samuel, went 17-34. ... Guthrie hit Maicer Izturis in the first inning, the pitcher's 10th hit batter this season, second-most in the AL. ... The 35-year-old Hunter, a nine-time Gold Glove winner, was replaced in center by Peter Bourjos, who was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake to make his major league debut. "Torii had talked about at some point in his career taking a little pressure off and moving to one of the corner spots. I think ... it's a great time to do it," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
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