Über uns » N leagues) Nick Castellanos, 3B, Detroit - 3 H

BALTIMORE -- It didnt matter to Buck Showalter that the Baltimore Orioles couldnt hold a six-run lead against a stumbling team thats already looking toward next year. All Showalter cared about was that the Orioles found a way to beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-7 Thursday night. "A W for Baltimore? Thats the way I draw them up," the manager said. "They dont have to be esthetically pleasing. At this stage, Im not looking for pretty, Im looking for W. I thought it was beautiful. I thought it was real pretty." After completing a 9-2 homestand against Tampa Bay, Minnesota and the Reds, the AL East-leading Orioles (82-57) maintained their 9 1/2-game lead and are assured a third straight winning season for the first time since 1992-94. Baltimore has 23 games left, all against AL East foes. "The homestand, that was huge for us," said J.J. Hardy, who delivered a tiebreaking two-run single in the seventh inning. "I think we had a chance to sweep every series. To take this one tonight was big, and now weve got all in division. It gets bigger." Nelson Cruz hit his major league-leading 37th home run in a six-run first inning, but the Reds chipped away and finally pulled even with a four-run seventh. Nick Markakis led off the bottom half with a single off Manny Parra (0-2), and Hardy put Baltimore back in front with a bases-loaded single on a 3-1 pitch from Sam LeCure. Tommy Hunter (3-2) worked 1 1-3 innings and Zach Britton got three outs for his 33rd save. "Theres a real will there to be satisfied with two out of three (after) they fought their way back, but our guys pushed back," Showalter said. "Weve being doing that a lot this year, pushing back." After watching the Reds get beat 6-0 on Wednesday -- their 15th loss in 21 games -- Cincinnati manager Bryan Price said he was going to "see what we have in our system." His starting lineup contained five September call-ups and first baseman Jack Hannahan, who has no RBIs in 17 games this season. "It would have been nice to hold on to win but I was proud of the way the guys came back," Pryce said. "You get tired of sucking silver linings out of losses, but it was definitely some fun and entertaining things to watch." Devin Mesoraco went 4 for 4, hit his 21st home run and had four RBIs. But the Reds dropped to 66-74, the first time theyve been eight games under .500 since Oct. 2, 2009. Mesoraco doubled in two runs in the seventh to complete Cincinnatis comeback, but it wasnt good enough. "Anytime you go back and forth with a team it shows the fight in you and that you arent giving up," said leadoff hitter Jason Bourgeois, one of the call-ups. "A lot of positives we can take from tonight." Cruz homered with a man on and newcomer Kelly Johnson doubled in a run before Nick Hundley capped the first-inning uprising against Mike Leake with a three-run shot. Jonathan Schoop connected in the fourth to make it 7-2. The rookie has homered in three straight games. Leake yielded a career high-tying seven runs on seven hits in four innings. The three home runs he allowed also matched a career high. Orioles starter Chris Tillman gave up five hits over six innings. He left with Baltimore up 7-3. TRAINERS ROOM Reds: RHP Homer Bailey will have surgery on his elbow Friday to repair a torn tendon. Bailey, whos on the 60-day DL, expects to be fully recovered by the start of spring training. Orioles: 1B Steve Pearce, who has not played since Aug. 29 because of a strained abdominal muscle, hopes to return Saturday against Tampa Bay. Also, reliever Andrew Miller is day-to-day with a tender hamstring. UP NEXT Reds: Alfredo Simon, whos 1-6 in the second half, takes the mound Friday night for the opener of a series against the visiting New York Mets. Orioles: Wei-Yin Chen (14-4) starts for the fifth time this season against Tampa Bay to launch a three-game series Friday night. Sam Mills Jersey . Hes just beginning to get similar results. The right-hander struggled after winning the honour in 2008 and 2009, but a retooling of his game has begun to pay off and has the San Francisco Giants thinking about the Lincecum of old. DJ Moore Jersey . The seventh-ranked Berdych wants to focus on the ATP Tour after helping the Czechs beat the Netherlands in the first round. Seeking their third straight Davis Cup title, the Czechs will rely again on veteran Radek Stepanek. http://www.officialcarolinapantherspro.com/. Dallas also Monday recalled defenceman Aaron Rome from his conditioning assignment with the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League and assigned goaltender Jack Campbell to the AHL squad. Christian McCaffrey Jersey . Future Hall of Famer Ricky Ray is in his prime and back for a third season in double blue. The 34-year old was magnificent in 2013, throwing for just under 2,900 yards despite missing eight games, tossing an impressive 21 touchdowns against just two interceptions, completing 66 per cent of his passes in the process. Curtis Samuel Jersey . -- Brendan Leipsic had two goals and an assist and Nicolas Petan extended his point streak to 11 games as the Portland Winterhawks slipped past the Red Deer Rebels 5-4 on Saturday in Western Hockey League action. White Sox rookie first baseman Jose Abreu came to major league baseball with some hype, as many Cubans do, but there wasnt any expectation for the kind of first month that hes enjoying. 27-years-old with a power-hitters build (listed at 6-foot-3, 255 pounds), Abreu has roared into the majors, with 10 home runs, 31 RBI, a .262 batting average and .962 OPS in his first 26 games. As with any one-month sample, these numbers arent sustainable, but what is fair to expect from Abreu? For one thing, his batting average on balls in play is .246, which is well below average, so it would be fair to expect his batting average to go up as a few more balls fall in, but hes also had a major-league best 33.3% of his flyballs leave the park, which isnt going to hold. Over the past five seasons, there have been two seasons in which a player finished with more than 27% of his flyballs turning into home runs -- Adam Dunn in 2012 (29.3%) and Chris Davis in 2013 (29.6%) -- so Abreu is most likely to fall off his current 62-home run pace. No, seriously. What will bear watching with Abreu is how pitchers adjust to him as he makes his way through the league. He swings at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone and hes already seeing among thelowest percentage of strikes when hes at the plate, so pitchers are learning. Its also interesting to note that, thus far, while Abreu destroys fastballs and sliders, hes struggled with change-ups. If thats the scouting report, surely hell start seeing more change-ups, if just to affect his timing. At this point, 14.5% of the pitches Abreu has faced have been change-ups; it will be interesting to see if that number increases over the next month or more. None of this anticipated regression should come as a surprise, merely as a caution.dddddddddddd Baseball tends to catch up to sluggers, especially ones that are willing to expand their strike zone by swinging freely. GOOD ADDS (available in at least 40% of TSN leagues) Nick Castellanos, 3B, Detroit - 3 HR, 13 RBI, .258 AVG, 7 R, 66 AB (Available: 71.6%) Dioner Navarro, C, Toronto - 1 HR, 14 RBI, .309 AVG, 11 R, 81 AB (Available: 89.6%) Alberto Callaspo, 3B/2B, Oakland - 3 HR, 13 RBI, .272 AVG, 9 R, 81 AB (Available: 74.6%) Casey McGehee, 3B, Miami - 0 HR, 16 RBI, .287 AVG, 5 R, 94 AB (Available: 75.8%) Dillon Gee, RHP, N.Y. Mets - 2-1, 2.88 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 27 K, 40 2/3 IP (Available: 65.7%) Ian Kennedy, RHP, San Diego - 2-3, 3.16 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 37 K, 37 IP (Available: 76.2%) CLOSER NOTES The Angels have demoted Ernesto Frieri, leaving side-arming veteran Joe Smith for the role. Smith, 30, recorded the first three saves of his career last season for Cleveland. While hes not the classic fire-balling closer, Smith has managed to miss bats this year, striking out 11 in 10 innings, the best rate of his career. Pirates closer Jason Grilli is on the DL with a strained oblique. Mark Melancon, who has 37 career saves, takes over. Melancon has been really good for the Pirates over the past couple seasons, posting a 1.41 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in 84 games, striking out 79 in 83 innings. If the Pirates are in position to win games, Melancon is qualified to close them out. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. 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