Mussina Helps Orioles Get It Together

Great pitching. Terrific defense. A perfect job by the bullpen.

It’s not often the Baltimore Orioles get all that in one night.

Mike Mussina struck out 12 in seven innings and Will Clark and Jerry Hairston homered as the Orioles ended their four-game losing streak with an 8-4 victory Saturday night over the Phillies in Philadelphia.

Mussina also got his third hit of the season and drove in his fourth run, a much bigger deal in the Oriole clubhouse than his strikeouts.

“We talked a lot more about the one hit than the 12 strikeouts,” said Mussina, who gave up six hits, walked two and retired his last seven batters before leaving after the seventh. “I just don’t do it that often.”

The Orioles don’t win that often, either. With a stellar performance from Mussina (11-4), and with Clark and Brady Anderson back in the lineup after resting injuries, the Orioles hope this is something to build on. They had lost 14 of 16 to fall a season-low 17 games below .500.

“That’s probably the understatement of the week,” Clark said when asked if it was a relief.

Mussina survived a four-run fifth inning and dazzled the Phillies, many of them who had never seen him before. He won an All-Star matchup against Paul Byrd (11-5), who gave up six runs--five earned--and nine hits in five innings.

Mussina struck out the side in the fourth, giving him nine. He got Scott Rolen on a tailing fastball, Rico Brogna on a big-bending curve and all-star Mike Lieberthal on a nasty slider.

His regular-season career high is 14, and Mussina struck out 15 in Game 3 of the 1997 AL championship series against Cleveland.

Mussina said the mound at Veterans Stadium, regarded by many visiting pitchers as one of the highest and steepest around, deserved some of the credit.

Phillie assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told Mussina it was a regulation mound.

“I told him he must have short turf,” Mussina joked.

Arthur Rhodes and Mike Timlin each pitched a 1-2-3 inning, a rare success for the Orioles’ struggling bullpen.

“The mound’s high, and I’m glad it is,” Oriole Manager Ray Miller said. “I think that’s how you save arms. With all the money we spend on pitchers, I think baseball needs to get smart and make all the mounds like that.”