Zach Eflin struck out nine in seven impressive innings, and James McCann hit a home run, leading the Baltimore Orioles to a 6-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.
Gunnar Henderson had two hits and two RBIs for Baltimore, which had lost three of its last four games. Anthony Santander also contributed with two hits.
The Orioles (79-59) finished a 3-3 road trip and moved within half a game of the AL East-leading New York Yankees, who lost 14-7 to St. Louis.
“We’ve been grinding for a couple of months and it’s not been easy,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’d like to find some consistency. It’s hard right now but just looking for some spark to get us going, get on a little bit of a run.”
Eflin (10-7) gave up one run and four hits. He has won all five of his starts for Baltimore since being traded from Tampa Bay on July 26. The right-hander was activated from the 15-day injured list before the game after being out with shoulder inflammation.
The 30-year-old Eflin retired his first 15 batters and needed only 49 pitches to get through five innings. He struck out all three batters in the third inning and used just six pitches to complete the fifth inning.
“Any inning I have less than 10 pitches I’m extremely happy with,” Eflin said. “I was excited to keep the pitch count down and stay in the game as long as possible.”
Colorado had its first baserunner when Jake Cave led off the sixth inning with a dribbler down the third base line for an infield single.
Cave advanced on a wild pitch, and Jordan Beck walked. However, Drew Romo hit into a double play, and Ezequiel Tovar was retired on a comebacker to the mound.
“That was an accident,” Cave said about his single. “I hit it off my thumbs down the third base line.”
