Thomas hits two homers, Verlander earns sixth win as Tigers beat Orioles 6-3

Thomas homers twice, leads Tigers over Orioles 6-3

BALTIMORE — Clete Thomas hit two solo home runs to offset another shot by Baltimore’s Luke Scott, and the Detroit Tigers ended the Orioles’ five-game winning streak with a 6-3 victory Saturday night.

Thomas, who came in with two homers in 191 career at-bats, connected in the third and seventh innings. The second drive, off Matt Albers (0-2), put Detroit up 4-3 and enabled Justin Verlander (6-2) to win his sixth straight decision.

Thomas added an RBI double in the eighth. Curtis Granderson also homered for the Tigers, and Magglio Ordonez had three hits.

The Orioles trailed 3-1 in the sixth before Scott hit his sixth home run in four games, a two-run drive that traveled an estimated 420 feet. Scott has homered in each of his last four starts, going 8-for-15 with 14 RBIs in that span.

Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters had a triple and a double after going 0 for 4 in his much-anticipated major league debut Friday. He also scored his first run.

But it wasn’t enough to extend the Orioles’ longest winning streak of the season.

Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings. The right-hander matched his career high with 10 strikeouts, becoming the first Oriole to reach double figures since Erik Bedard against Texas on Aug. 21, 2007. But the two homers he surrendered upped his season total to 13 — second-most in AL and six more than any of his teammates.

Verlander allowed three runs and nine hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out five, extending his AL-leading total to 90.

Fernando Rodney got three outs for his ninth save.

After Granderson hit his 12th homer leading off the second and Thomas went deep in the third, an RBI single by Ryan Raburn made it 3-0 in the fourth.

In the bottom half, Baltimore got runners at the corners with two outs before Scott lofted a fly to center.

One inning later, Wieters got his first big-league hit — a triple to center — and scored on a single by Nolan Reimold. The Orioles then loaded the bases with no outs before Adam Jones bounced into a 1-2-3 double play and Nick Markakis struck out on three pitches.

Baltimore finished 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.