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  Saturday, Jun. 10 7:05pm ET
Schilling's comeback struggles continue
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

BALTIMORE (AP) -- While Albert Belle extended his torrid hitting spree, Curt Schilling continued to look for answers during the worst slump of his career.

Belle homered and drove in four runs and Sidney Ponson pitched eight strong innings as the Baltimore Orioles beat Schilling and the Philadelphia Phillies 11-4 Saturday night.

Cal Ripken homered and drove in three runs for the Orioles, who won for only the second time in 10 games. Ripken went 3-for-4 to boost his batting average to .261, his highest since April 26.

Belle went 3-for-5 and scored twice in extending his season-high hitting streak to 12 games. He's 21-for-46 with five homers and 11 RBI during that span.

"A lot of us have overlooked it," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said, "but Albert is slowly putting together a big season."

Schilling (1-4), in contrast, is having a horrid time trying to rebound from offseason surgery on his right shoulder. He allowed seven runs and 10 hits in five-plus innings before being lifted after throwing 87 pitches.

His ERA ballooned to 6.34, and he remained winless in six starts since May 6.

"I've never gone through a stretch like this," he said. "I've gone through three-, four- or five-game stretches, but nothing like this."

It would be easier if he had a clue as to exactly why he's throwing so poorly.

"I just made a lot of bad pitches. I threw a lot of balls over the plate today," he said. "Five minutes into the game we were down 3-0. It's starting to sound like a broken record."

Ponson (4-3) allowed five hits, two walks and four runs. He took a two-hitter into the sixth and overcame a three-run homer by Bobby Abreu to win for only the second time in nine starts.

Mike Lieberthal also homered for Philadelphia, which fell to 5-9 against Baltimore in four years of interleague play.

Delino DeShields and B.J. Surhoff hit RBI doubles before Ripken singled in a run to give Baltimore a 3-0 lead in the first.

Lieberthal hit his ninth homer in the second for Philadelphia, but Belle hit a two-run, two-out single in the Orioles' half to make it 5-1.

Ripken's team-high 13th home run, after a single by Belle, put Baltimore up 7-1 in the fifth. Schilling was lifted after the first two Orioles reached in the sixth.

"I wanted to leave him out there," Phillies manager Terry Francona said. "I don't think it's at a point where he's struggling physically. I want him to get it right, but at that point, you start giving up nine or 10 hits in five innings and that's a pretty good indication you better go get somebody else."

Abreu connected in the sixth, extending his hitting streak to a team-high 11 games, but the Phillies only got one hit after that.

The Orioles stretched the lead in the eighth, scoring four unearned runs after an error by shortstop Desi Relaford. The key blow was a two-run homer by Belle, his 10th.

Game notes
Baltimore's Harold Baines batted eighth for the first time since April 24, 1982. The slumping DH went 0-for-1 with two walks before being lifted for a pinch runner. ... Lieberthal has reached base in 13 straight games and 19 of 20. ... Ripken passed Goose Goslin and moved into 20th place on the career RBI list (1,610) ... The sellout crowd of 48,443 boosted the Orioles' home attendance to 1,037,879 after 25 dates. ... Schilling struck out Mike Bordick in the first inning, his 1,500th strikeout with the Phillies.

 


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