After rain delays, O's get flood of runs in first to beat the Reds

The Orioles offense got off to a fast start tonight. They just had to wait a while to do it. The Orioles scored four runs in the first inning on their way to a 5-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of a three-game, interleague series. The Orioles are now 7-2 on this homestand and 80-57 for the season. Their American League East lead is 9 1/2 games over the Yankees, who lost tonight. Their magic number to clinch the division crown is 17. What appeared to be a comfortable win turned into a one-run victory when Jay Bruce hit a grand slam off Darren O'Day in the top of the eighth. The Reds loaded the bases on a walk, an error by third baseman Jimmy Paredes and a hit batsman. It was Bruce's 15th homer of the season and third career grand slam. Zach Britton pitched the ninth to record his 32nd save in 35 chances. He had big help from Jonathan Schoop who turned a game ending 4-3 double play with runners on first and third and one out. Schoop fielded a grounder by Todd Frazier, tagged out the runner heading toward second and threw to first for a nifty double play to end this game. The Orioles didn't bat until after two rain delays. The first one delayed the start of the game by 23 minutes. The second one, in the top of the first, lasted 1 hour and 46 minutes. When they finally came to bat, the O's turned five singles into four runs off Mat Latos. Nelson Cruz, Chris Davis and Caleb Joseph had RBI singles and Paredes added an RBI groundout. Back-to-back singles by Nick Markakis and Alejandro De Aza started the rally. For Cruz it was his 91st RBI which sets a new career high. He drove in 90 runs during the 2012 season. De Aza, making his O's debut, went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. Schoop blasted a long homer to left center into the Reds bullpen in the second for a 5-0 lead. It was No. 13 for the Orioles second baseman. Bud Norris threw 10 pitches before the second delay and then came back out to finish the first inning, needing four more pitches. Norris went six scoreless innings, allowing just four singles. He walked one and fanned seven, throwing 93 pitches. He is now 12-8 with an ERA of 3.83. In his previous three career starts against the Reds, Norris was 0-3 with an ERA of 5.11. Latos took the loss, giving up 10 hits and five runs over five innings to fall to 5-4 with an ERA of 3.46. The 10 hits allowed was a season high while the five runs tied his season high. The Orioles improved to 10-8 against the National League, 12-2 in their last 14 series openers and 22-7 in their last 29 home games. In the second game of this series on Wednesday night, Miguel Gonzalez ( 7-7, 3.61 ERA) faces right-hander Dylan Axelrod (1-0, 1.64 ERA).