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O's Hand Reeling Angels Another Loss

ANAHEIM (AP)  — J.J. Hardy and Manny Machado each hit a two-run homer off Jerome Williams in his first start of the season, leading the Baltimore Orioles to an 8-4 victory over the reeling Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.

Jason Hammel (5-1) allowed four runs and nine hits through six innings, helping the Orioles tie the New York Yankees for second place in the AL East. The right-hander came in 0-3 with a 7.31 ERA in three previous starts against the Angels.

Mike Trout homered for the Angels, whose 11-20 start has matched the worst in franchise history. They have lost seven of nine and are a season-worst nine games behind first-place Texas in the AL West despite the offseason addition of 2010 AL MVP Josh Hamilton. Their only victory in this four-game series came Friday night, when Jason Vargas won 4-0 with a three-hitter.

Hammel's biggest pitch of the game was his 107th and final one, when he slipped a called third strike past Trout to strand Erick Aybar at second base and preserve a 5-4 lead. Hammel, who struck out five, is 5-0 with a 3.41 ERA in five road starts.

Darren O'Day retired all four batters he faced, retiring Trout on a grounder with two runners in scoring position in the eighth and finishing up for his first save since Sept. 8, 2009, with Texas.

Orioles first baseman Chris Davis returned to the lineup after missing Saturday's game with a knee problem. He was 1 for 4 with an RBI single in Baltimore's three-run eighth. Ryan Flaherty drove in the final two runs with a bases-loaded single against Garrett Richards.

Williams (1-1) threw 93 pitches in 4 1-3 innings, giving up five runs and four hits while striking out six and walking three.

The right-hander, who made eight appearances out of the bullpen with a 1.69 ERA, was coming off a six-inning stint last Monday at Oakland in which he allowed an unearned run from the 10th through the 15th before the Angels lost 10-8 in 19 innings. Richards was bumped from the rotation after going 1-2 with a 5.54 ERA in four starts for injured Jered Weaver.

Facing a lineup that included five left-handed batters, including switch-hitter Matt Wieters, Williams gave up an RBI double with two outs in the first by Adam Jones after a leadoff double by Nate McLouth.

The Angels responded in the bottom half with two-out RBI singles by Alberto Callaspo, Howie Kendrick and Hank Conger. Hammel ended his 38-pitch inning by striking out J.B. Shuck with the bases loaded after a walk to Chris Iannetta. The Angels stranded 11 runners in all.

Shuck came up again with the bases loaded in the third and flied out to right after another two-out walk to Iannetta, and the Orioles tied it 3-all in the fourth with a leadoff walk to Jones and a home run to left-center by Hardy -- his fifth of the season and second in two days after a 14-game drought.

Trout regained the lead for the Angels in the bottom half with his fifth home run, driving a 2-2 pitch out onto the rock pile in left-center. But the Orioles pulled ahead 5-4 in the fifth when McLouth walked with one out and Machado followed with a homer into the second tier of the double-decker bullpen in left, where his Orioles teammates welcomed the souvenir.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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