San Diego, CA – Adam Jones went a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate and Bud Norris twirled six innings of one-run ball as the Baltimore Orioles outlasted the San Diego Padres, 4-1, on Tuesday at Petco Park.
Jones had a hand in most of Baltimore's offense, clubbing a homer, knocking in two runs and scoring twice as the Orioles took the first of this two-game set. Chris Davis went 2-for-4 with an RBI double in the victory.
Norris (8-9) made his second start with the Orioles after coming over from the Astros and allowed just five hits while walking two. Jim Johnson notched his 39th save with a scoreless ninth.
"I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing, which is trying to throw strikes and let the guys play defense," said Norris.
The Padres had won six of eight coming in, but played their first game without leadoff hitter Everth Cabrera, who was one of 13 players suspended on Monday for his involvement with the now-defunct Biogenesis clinic.
Edinson Volquez (8-9) struck out six in six frames and was a hard luck loser, yielding two runs on six hits. The Padres had won in his previous three starts.
"Our situational hitting was not good tonight and we need to be better at it, there's no doubt about it," said Padres manager Bud Black.
San Diego was 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position on the evening.
Jones put the Orioles on the board in the first with a two-out single that scored Nate McClouth, who doubled to start the game. Baltimore then went ahead 2-0 when Jones began the fourth with his 23rd home run of the season.
Norris had faced 13 batters in a row without giving up a hit leading up to the sixth, but the Padres produced three consecutive singles to start the frame, with Yonder Alonso's grounder through the right side cutting the deficit to 2-1.
San Diego failed to tack on more in the inning, however, as Norris retired the next three batters in order.
Jones and Davis helped cushion the Orioles' lead in the seventh, with Jones keeping the inning alive with a two-out single and then coming around to score on a double from Davis.
Baltimore added another insurance run in the ninth on Manny Machado's two-out RBI single to score Brian Roberts and make it 4-1. Johnson secured the victory when Nick Hundley grounded into a game-ending double play.
Game Notes
The Orioles reinstated infielder Roberts from the paternity leave list on Tuesday and optioned infielder Danny Valencia to Triple-A Norfolk ... The Padres selected the contract of infielder Ronny Cedeno from Single-A Lake Elsinore.
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