FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 17 (UPI) -- Jeff Conine and Jerry Hairston Jr. hit two-run homers as the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Mets, 7-4, Monday in a rain-shortened eight-inning contest.
Baltimore scored three runs in the first inning. Hairston and Gary Mathews Jr. singled to open the inning and Hairston scored on B.J. Surhoff's groundout. Conine followed with a homer off Mets starter Donovan Osborne.
Mo Vaughn hit a solo shot off Orioles starter Rick Helling in the second inning, but Hairston's homer in the bottom of the frame provided Baltimore with a 5-1 lead.
Raul Gonzalez's home run pulled New York within, 6-2, and the Mets scored two more runs in the top of the eighth inning. But Marty Cordova capped the scoring with a home run in the bottom of the inning.
Helling yielded one run and four hits, striking out six and walking one, in five innings.
Osborne gave up five runs and four hits in two innings, but Mike Bacsik, fighting for a spot in the rotation, permitted just one run and three hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked one.
