The Baltimore Orioles recreated a bit of that “Orioles Magic” to beat their 1979 World Series foe, the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Boston Red Sox, on the other hand, missed their first opportunity since the 1975 World Series to defeat the Reds in Cincinnati.
Luke Scott homered, Melvin Mora had three hits and an RBI, and Baltimore rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-6 on Friday night.
“This is 1979 all over again. You’re doing it!” said Scott McGregor, a pitcher on the ’79 Orioles, who used a series of late-season comebacks – coining the phrase “Orioles Magic” – to charge into first place.
McGregor, Doug DeCinces and Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver, members of the 1979 AL pennant winners, were hailed before the game, which marked the Pirates’ first visit to Baltimore since the teams met in the World Series that season. The Orioles lost the World Series in seven games, and recently the franchise has suffered through 10 straight losing seasons.
But McGregor likes the enthusiasm this year’s team has generated by playing .500 ball and coming from behind in 18 of its 33 wins.
“When’s the last time you saw them doing the wave here?” he asked.
In Cincinnati, Jay Bruce and Adam Dunn hit solo homers and right-hander Aaron Harang got his first victory in a month, leading the Reds to a 3-1 interleague victory.
Boston hadn’t come to town since the 1975 World Series, when the Reds took two of three at Riverfront Stadium. The Big Red Machine then went back to Fenway Park, overcame Carlton Fisk’s dramatic wave-it-fair homer that ended Game 6, and won the championship in seven.
“Just showing we can play with those teams is great,” Bruce said. “That was a good game, really tough. It could have busted out either way.”
In other interleague games Friday, it was: Detroit 5, L.A. Dodgers 0; Cleveland 9, San Diego 5; Toronto 3, Chicago Cubs 2; N.Y. Mets 7, Texas 1; Tampa Bay 7, Florida 3; Minnesota 10, Milwaukee 2; N.Y. Yankees 2, Houston 1; Chicago White Sox 5, Colorado 4; Arizona 1, Kansas City 0, 10 innings; Atlanta 5, L.A. Angels 2; Washington 7, Seattle 6; and Oakland 5, San Francisco 1.
In the only NL game, it was: Philadelphia 20, St. Louis 2.
Pittsburgh got a three-run homer from Jason Michaels in building a 6-1 lead in the third inning against Brian Burres (5-5). But Baltimore got a run back on a fourth-inning RBI double by Ramon Hernandez, then closed to 6-5 against starter Phil Dumatrait in the fifth on a run-scoring grounder by Aubrey Huff and a two-run single by Kevin Millar.
“As soon as it was 6-5, we knew we were going to find a way to win it,” Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said. “Especially here at home and especially in front of this crowd tonight.”
The Orioles took the lead in the sixth against Franquelis Osoria (3-2).
George Sherrill worked the ninth for his 22nd save.
Harang (3-9) hadn’t won since May 12, losing his past four starts. The right-hander also was coming off his worst performance of the season – eight runs in 5 1-3 innings of a 9-2 loss in Florida on Sunday.
He was back in form against Boston, allowing four hits and one run in seven innings. The Reds’ top starter had a long talk with the coaches and decided he had to change his mind-set.
“They basically told me, ‘You’ve got to get back to being the normal you. You’ve got to be aggressive,”’ said Harang, who struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter. “I was trying too hard to do too much and not being myself.”
Francisco Cordero gave up a single in the ninth before finishing for his 13th save.
Rookie Justin Masterson (3-1) gave up three runs and struck out a career-high nine in 6 2-3 innings during his first career start on the road.
Mets 7, Rangers 1
At New York, Oliver Perez (5-4) pitched seven stellar innings and drove in two runs for the Mets, giving embattled manager Willie Randolph a win and momentarily easing the tension in a clubhouse desperate for something good to happen.
Rays 7, Marlins 3
At St. Petersburg, Fla., Eric Hinske and Dioner Navarro both drove in two runs to lead Tampa Bay.
Hinske’s first-inning double off Ryan Tucker (1-1) wiped out a two-run lead the Marlins took against Andy Sonnanstine (7-3), who settled after a shaky opening inning to win for the first time in nearly a month.
Blue Jays 3, Cubs 2
At Toronto, Scott Rolen and Matt Stairs hit back-to-back home runs and A.J. Burnett (6-6) won for the first time in four starts as Toronto snapped Chicago’s four-game winning streak.
Twins 10, Brewers 2
At Milwaukee, Kevin Slowey (3-6) pitched eight effective innings and hit a two-run single – his first career RBIs – to lead Minnesota.
White Sox 5, Rockies 4
At Chicago, Juan Uribe tied the game with a two-run single and scored on A.J. Pierzynski’s infield hit in a three-run seventh to lift Chicago.
Tigers 5, Dodgers 0
At Detroit, Armando Galarraga (6-2) and Freddy Dolsi combined on a three-hitter and Marcus Thames and Magglio Ordonez homered for Detroit in its fourth straight win.
Yankees 2, Astros 1
At Houston, Derek Jeter hit a solo homer in the eighth inning off Doug Brocail and Joba Chamberlain pitched six strong innings in his first career road start to lead New York.
Alex Rodriguez added an RBI single for the Yankees in their first regular-season game at Minute Maid Park.
Braves 5, Angels 2
At Anaheim, Calif., Gregor Blanco was 3-for-4 with two RBI singles and Atlanta won in its first game at the Big A.
Jeff Francoeur and Omar Infante had RBI doubles for Atlanta.
Diamondbacks 1, Royals 0, 10 innings
At Phoenix, Chad Tracy homered with one out in the bottom of the 10th to lift Arizona. The Diamondbacks played their franchise-record third straight extra-inning game.
Indians 9, Padres 5
At Cleveland, Grady Sizemore hit two home runs more than five hours apart and the Indians waited out a long rain delay before rallying for the win.
Nationals 7, Mariners 6
At Seattle, Jesus Flores and Ronnie Belliard had two-run hits during a six-run second inning for Washington.
Flores hit a two-run double and Belliard had a two-run single as the Nationals roughed up knuckleballer R.A. Dickey for six runs, five hits and two walks in the second. Dickey (1-2) gave up eight hits and seven runs in 1 2-3 innings.
Athletics 5, Giants 1
At San Francisco, Greg Smith (4-5) won for only the second time in his past nine starts and got his first career hit as Oakland beat its former ace.
Barry Zito (2-10) was attempting to win consecutive starts for the first time this season, but he allowed six hits and four runs in 5 2-3 innings. He walked four and struck out three.
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