Jun 28, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles outfielders David Lough (9), Adam Jones (10), and Nolan Reimold (14) celebrate after beating the Cleveland Indians 4-0 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
BALTIMORE — Chris Davis, Travis Snider and Chris Parmelee all homered in a six-run fourth inning, and starter Chris Tillman threw seven shutout innings as the Baltimore Orioles completed a sweep of Sunday’s doubleheader versus Cleveland with an 8-0 victory over the Indians.
Tampa Bay and the Yankees both lost on Sunday so the sweep of this split doubleheader — the Orioles scored a 4-0 victory earlier in the day — lets Baltimore (41-34) pull into a virtual tie for first place with the Rays (42-35) in the American League East. The Orioles (.547) actually lead Tampa Bay (.545) by two percentage points.
In addition, the Orioles won the season series (5-1) against the Indians for the first time in nine years. Also, according to STATS, LLC, this is the first time the Orioles have posted two shutouts in a doubleheader since Sept. 6, 1974 — also versus the Indians.
The six-run fourth inning — powered by solo homers from right fielder Davis, left fielder Snider and a two-run shot from first baseman Parmelee — gave Tillman an early 8-0 lead, and he breezed through seven innings.
Tillman (6-7) now has won four straight decisions after a rough start and gave up only four hits. He also struck out six without a walk.
Right-hander Toru Murata (0-1) made his major league debut for the Indians (33-41) and looked good at times but the Orioles got to him for five runs on four hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Orioles second baseman Ryan Flaherty got a two-run single in the second before the three-home run fourth. Murata gave up two of the homers and left with the Orioles up, 4-0.
The Indians finished with eight hits, four of which came in the last two innings against left-hander T.J. McFarland. Left fielder David Murphy went 4-for-4, all singles.
Also, manager Terry Francona was thrown out in the top of the ninth by home plate umpire Ron Kulpa after arguing balls and strikes.
Baltimore took an early lead in Game 2 thanks to a two-out error from Jason Kipnis. The Cleveland second baseman couldn’t come up with Snider’s hard grounder, and that kept the inning alive.
Shortstop J.J. Hardy sent Snider to third with a double to right. Flaherty followed with his two-run single for a 2-0 lead.
The Orioles broke it open in the fourth when they belted three homers en route to their six-run inning and an 8-0 lead.
Davis started things with a lead-off homer against Murata, which Snider duplicated two batters later to give the Orioles a 4-0 lead. Murata’s night ended after he followed that with a walk of Hardy.
Left-hander Marc Rzepczynski came on and got one out before walking center fielder David Lough to put two runners on with two out. Former Oriole Ryan Webb then entered to face Manny Machado, and the third baseman ripped the right-hander’s first pitch down the line in left for a two-run double and a 6-0 lead.
Parmelee followed with his two-run homer that gave the Orioles an 8-0 cushion.
NOTES: The victory in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader was the 5,000th for the Orioles since the team moved to Baltimore from St. Louis for the 1954 season. … The Orioles recalled LHP T.J. McFarland from Triple-A Norfolk to use as their 26th player in the second game of this doubleheader. He’s 0-1 with a 3.18 ERA in three turns with the Orioles so far this season. … Indians 2B Jason Kipnis saw his 20-game hitting streak, the longest in the major leagues this year, come to an end in Game 1. He went 0-for-4 in the 4-0 loss. … The Indians announced before the second game that they released RHP Scott Atchison, whom they designated for assignment on June 23.
