For all the things the Baltimore Orioles accomplished last season, there was still one thing that continued to haunt the club: they just could not beat Justin Verlander.
Orioles defeat Justin Verlander for 1st time
It took only 13 tries for Baltimore to finally come out on top against the Tigers’ ace.
Duane Burleson
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Prior to Tuesday night's contest, the Orioles had faced the Tigers' ace 12 times since 2006, but had not once delivered the right-hander a mark in the loss column. All that changed Tuesday, as the O's rocked Verlander for five runs in five innings on their way to a 5-2 victory over Detroit.
Early on it appeared as though Verlander was on his way to duplicating his winning performance against Baltimore from June 1 -- when he held the club to three runs over seven innings of work -- but J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones had other things in mind.
Hardy got things started for the Orioles in the fourth with a two-run blast -- his third against Verlander this season -- and Jones added the finishing touches with a three-run bomb in the fifth, ending Verlander’s night at 102 pitches. Verlander now owns an 8-1 record against the O’s in 13 starts, easily his best record against any American League team.
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