<div id="subtitle">Radhames Liz pitches 8 strong innings, Orioles hit 5 homers in 7-3 win over Twins</div><div><p>Radhames Liz pitched eight shutout innings, and the Baltimore Orioles hit five home runs in a 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.</p><p>Nick Markakis and Oscar Salazar each homered twice, and Lou Montanez also connected to help Baltimore salvage the finale of the three-game series. The five homers tied a season high for the Orioles, who had only five in their past six games.</p><p>Four of the home runs were off rookie Nick Blackburn, who had yielded only four homers in his previous nine starts. Blackburn (10-9) gave up six runs and nine hits in four innings.</p><p>Minnesota, which totaled 24 runs in a doubleheader sweep Saturday, was held scoreless until the ninth. The Twins started the day in a virtual tie with the Chicago White Sox for the AL Central lead.</p><p>Liz (6-5) gave up five hits, struck out four and walked one in his longest and most effective outing in the big leagues. Making his 19th career start, the right-hander did not permit a runner past second base.</p><p>In his last start, the erratic Liz threw 102 pitches against Cleveland and didn't get out of the fifth inning. In this one, he threw 108 pitches before being lifted.</p><p>George Sherrill started the ninth, but was ineffective in his first appearance since Aug. 15. The All-Star closer allowed an RBI single to Brian Buscher and was replaced by Jim Miller with the bases loaded.</p><p>Miller gave up a run-scoring single to Nick Punto and a sacrifice fly by Carlos Gomez before retiring Denard Span on a grounder to end it.</p><p>Markakis put the Orioles up 2-0 in the first inning with a liner that landed in the front row of the left-field seats.</p><p>Luke Scott led off the Baltimore second with a single and Salazar followed with a flyball to left that dropped into the seats just beyond the left-field wall.</p><p>Salazar and Montanez hit successive solo shots in the fourth to make it 6-0, and Markakis hit his 20th in the fifth off Philip Humber. It was the second career multihomer game for Markakis — both have come against the Twins — and the first for Salazar.</p><p>Notes:@ Liz's major league debut, his first career win and longest outing all came against the Twins. ... The last time the Twins gave up five homers in a game was June 17, 2007, against Milwaukee. ... The Twins are 3-7 in starts when Blackburn gives up a homer, and 7-2 when he does not. ... Baltimore is 36-37 at home, compared to 35-46 last year. ... Minnesota's eight-game winning streak at Camden Yards ended.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=32904181&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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