Ildemaro Vargas hit a three-run homer and Merrill Kelly pitched into the sixth inning in his season debut to help the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the host Baltimore Orioles 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Kelly, a veteran right-hander who was dealing with a back injury since spring training, logged 5 1/3 innings to pick up the pitching victory. He was charged with two runs on five hits with four walks and three strikeouts.
Geraldo Perdomo posted three hits for the Diamondbacks, who were stunned by Baltimore’s comeback from six runs down in Monday night’s series opener, a 9-7 Orioles victory.
Arizona’s Jose Fernandez and James McCann both had two hits on Tuesday. Paul Sewald worked a perfect ninth without the ball leaving the infield for his sixth save.
Yet there was good news for the Orioles. First-year manager Craig Albernaz was in the dugout a night after he was struck in the face by a foul ball and sustained a broken jaw and fractured cheek bones.
Samuel Basallo homered and joined Jeremiah Jackson with two hits for Baltimore. Leody Taveras drove in runs in the third and eighth innings.
Vargas drilled his second home run of the season in Arizona’s four-run fifth inning off Orioles starter Trevor Rogers. Arizona tacked on the last run of the uprising on Fernandez’s two-out double.
The Orioles drew within 4-3 on Taveras’ eighth-inning single with two outs, but Ryan Thompson was summoned from the bullpen with the bases loaded and retired Jackson on a groundout to douse the threat.
Baltimore struck first on Basallo’s home run on the third pitch of the bottom of the second inning. Taveras drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk for the next run in the third inning.
Rogers (2-1) lasted 4 2/3 innings and was charged with four runs on nine hits, giving up more than two runs for the first time in four starts this season. He struck out six batters, but it was the first time he failed to complete at least six innings.
