Carmona strikes quickly to earn second straight victory

Indians 6, Orioles 1

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Slower proved to be better for Fausto Carmona.

Carmona (2-1) pitched into the ninth inning for the first time and Casey Blake homered to help the Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-1 Sunday.

The win came less than 24 hours after the Indians officially protested the 7-4 loss that ended their six-game winning streak because the Orioles were given a run three innings after it had been waved off by the umpires.

"That was a great performance by Fausto," said Indians manager Eric Wedge, who has to tell the young right-hander he's headed back to the minors.

Wedge put Carmona into the starting rotation when left-hander Cliff Lee strained an abdominal muscle in spring training. Lee is due back this week.

"Fausto really stepped up in the situation," Wedge said. "Today, he slowed himself down, checked himself. He did a good job."

Orioles starter Jaret Wright (0-3) may be headed back to the DL. The right-hander was activated before the game, gave up three runs in three innings, and said he felt discomfort in his shoulder.

"It doesn't feel too good," Wright said. "I tried to get through it. It hurts, basically. It felt bad and kept getting worse. We'll give it 24 hours and come up with a plan."

Wedge could use a plan to try and keep Carmona in Cleveland's crowded rotation.

"We're not going to make any decisions today," Wedge said. "One way or another, it's a very tough situation and you want to give it as much time as humanly possible."

Carmona gave up six hits, walked two and struck out one in a career-best 8 1-3 innings. He had a shutout into the ninth when Aubrey Huff hit his 100th pitch over the wall in right with one out. After Jay Gibbons singled, Rafael Betancourt replaced Carmona and got the last two outs.

"I wanted to finish," Carmona said through first-base coach Luis Rivera, who served as interpreter for the 23-year-old Dominican. "I didn't think about a shutout, or about maybe the minors."

Carmona got 18 outs on ground balls, one a spectacular play by second baseman Josh Barfield in the first inning. Ranging behind the bag to field a sharp bouncer hit by Miguel Tejada, Barfield leaped in the air, turned and threw to first for the out.

Carmona issued his only two walks with two outs in the eighth. After a visit by pitching coach Carl Willis, the right-hander got Nick Markakis to ground out on the next pitch.

"When he had to make a pitch, he kept it down and got a ground ball," Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo said. "He pitched a great game."

It was Carmona's second straight win after taking 11 straight losses. He won his major league debut against Detroit on April 15, 2006, then went 39 appearances, including nine starts, before defeating Minnesota on Tuesday.

Wright, sidelined since experiencing shoulder soreness April 10 against Detroit, walked the first two batters he faced. After Travis Hafner was called out on strikes, Victor Martinez lined a two-run single to right for a 2-0 lead.

Blake hit his second homer of the season with one out in the second to make it 3-0.

It was Wright's first career appearance against the Indians, who drafted him in the first round in 1994. The right-hander was called up in 1997 and went 8-3 to help Cleveland reach the World Series. He went 33-32 for Cleveland from 1997 through 2002, but went on the disabled list three separate times with shoulder ailments.

He then pitched for San Diego, Atlanta and the New York Yankees before being traded to Baltimore in November for right-hander Chris Britton.

Brian Burres walked three and struck out six over four hitless innings of relief for the Orioles.

Trot Nixon and Jhonny Peralta had RBI singles, and Shin-Soo Choo hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth -- all off former Indians right-hander Jeremy Guthrie -- to make it 6-0.

Game notes
Orioles RHP Jim Johnson was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk to make room for Wright. ... The Orioles have not made an error in 15 of their last 19 games. ... It was only the second time in 25 games the Orioles did not get at least one double. ... Hafner hit two singles to improve his average to .103 (3-for-29) at Jacobs Field. He's batting .488 in road games.