Markakis homers, Orioles end Athletics’ three-game winning streak with 5-1 victory

Orioles defeat Athletics 5-1

BALTIMORE — Ty Wigginton and Adam Jones delivered successive sacrifice flies in the sixth inning, and the Baltimore Orioles got a home run from Nick Markakis in a 5-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.

Jeremy Guthrie (3-4) gave up one run and six hits in six innings for the Orioles, who took a 3-1 lead without benefit of a hit.

Baltimore’s first run came on a throwing error, and the run-scoring fly balls in the sixth followed two straight walks and a wild pitch by Tyson Ross (1-3).

Markakis hit a solo homer off Michael Wuertz in the eighth, and Matt Wieters added an RBI double.

Oakland starter Dallas Braden left after allowing an unearned run and three hits in four innings. In explaining why the left-hander was pulled after only 62 pitches, the Athletics called it “a manager’s decision” and would not elaborate.

Braden departed with the score tied at 1. He is winless in three starts since throwing a perfect game against Tampa Bay on May 9.

The defeat ended Oakland’s three-game winning streak, fashioned with an interleague sweep of San Francisco in which the A’s outscored the Giants 10-1.

Oakland had won 13 of its last 15 games against the Orioles and were 15-4 in their previous 19 games at Camden Yards.

After Guthrie threw 113 pitches, the injury-depleted Baltimore bullpen made the lead stand up. Mark Hendrickson pitched two innings and Will Ohman worked the ninth.

Before the game, the Orioles put closer Alfredo Simon and setup man Koji Uehara on the 15-day disabled list.

Oakland took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Jack Cust walked, took third on a double by Gabe Gross and scored on a groundout by Mark Ellis.

Baltimore ended Oakland’s string of consecutive shutout innings at 23 with an unearned run in the fourth after Braden walked the first two batters. Trying to complete an inning-ending double play, shortstop Cliff Pennington threw wildly to first base, allowing Miguel Tejada to score from third.

Braden rebounded to strike out Wieters, but that would be the last batter he faced.

NOTES: Oakland failed to hit a home run in a seventh consecutive game, the team’s longest such streak since a nine-game run in 1983. … Orioles DH Luke Scott was scratched with a strained shoulder. He was replaced by slumping Garrett Atkins, who broke an 0-for-18 skid with a seventh-inning single. … Oakland OF Coco Crisp was also a late scratch, due to a strained chest muscle. It was the second straight game he missed. … Athletics LHP Brett Anderson (left elbow) will throw a bullpen session in Baltimore, Oakland manager Bob Geren said. If all goes well, Anderson could come off the DL and start Saturday in Detroit. … Baltimore OF Corey Patterson and his brother Eric, an Oakland OF, played in the same game for the first time since April 17, 2008.