Orioles 8, Pirates 6

Brad Lincoln labored through 4.1 innings as the Pirates dropped the first of three games to the Orioles, 8-6.

The Pirates scored a two-out run in the first on an Andrew McCutchen single, a stolen base, a walk, and an RBI single by Matt Hague.

In the bottom of the second, though, Lincoln gave up a leadoff double to Adam Jones. Lincoln almost got out of it, but with two outs, he hung a breaking pitch to Mark Reynolds, who bashed it to left to give the Orioles a 2-1 lead. The Orioles got another run, on an RBI single by Jones, in a long third inning. Jones (there he is again) then hit a solo homer with one out in the fifth, at which point Clint Hurdle replaced Lincoln with Juan Cruz.

In the sixth, Casey McGehee hit an opposite-field solo homer to cut the lead to 4-2. But the Orioles piled up four more runs in the bottom of the inning, as a Clint Barmes throwing error helped lead to a long inning, capped by Chris Davis' two-run shot. The Pirates got two in the seventh and and two more on a Neil Walker homer in the ninth, but it never felt all that close.