BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Ricardo Rodriguez provided a glimpse of why he is considered one of the Cleveland Indians' top pitching prospects.
The 24-year-old righthander allowed just one run and four hits in seven innings as the Indians rebounded from a 13-inning loss on Opening Day to post a 4-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
Rodriguez (1-0) walked one and struck out two. His only mistake was a two-out homer to Tony Batista in the second inning.
"I just wanted them to hit it so my players can make the plays and that's what happened," Rodriguez said. "I didn't think my curve was that good. I pitched OK, I thought. I know I can do better."
However, Cleveland manager Eric Wedge felt his pitcher was being too hard on himself.
"He was outstanding tonight," Wedge said. "You can't say enough about the way he pitched tonight."
Jose Santiago gave up a leadoff homer to Deivi Cruz in the eighth before Danys Baez recorded the final three outs for his first save.
Omar Daal (0-1) took the loss, yielding four runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings in his Orioles' debut.
"Omar pitched well," Orioles first baseman Jeff Conine said. "We could not score him any runs. When Rodriguez did make mistakes we didn't capitalize on them."
Daal gave up a single to Milton Bradley and a double to Omar Vizquel before being removed in the seventh. Ellis Burks greeted Willis Roberts with a two-run single that made it 4-1.
"This year we are going to be a one through nine kind of team where everybody will contribute one way or another," Wedge said. "We got the big hit when we needed it tonight."
The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on Shane Spencer's double and rookie Travis Hafner's RBI single.
After the Orioles tied it in the bottom half, the Indians scratched for the go-ahead run in the third as Brandon Phillips, another first-year player, led off with a single and Milton Bradley reached on an infield hit.
Vizquel dragged a bunt to the left of the mound and Phillips scored when Daal's throw sailed down the right field line. Vizquel was credited with a hit.
"I had good stuff," Daal said. "I kept the ball down. I made one mistake. It cost us."
"He was funky out there," Spencer said of Daal, who was facing the Indians for the first time. "No one really has seen him on this club. We just adjusted to him and waited for pitches to hit."
The Orioles had a chance to take the lead in the fourth, but Melvin Mora lined to right for the final out of the inning with runners on second and third.
"Everyone was a little jumpy and on edge," Baltimore manager Mike Hargrove said. "It wasn't one of our better offensive nights. Both pitchers threw the ball well tonight. Rodriguez was a little bit better."
Rodriguez appeared to get stronger, not allowing a hit over his final three innings.
