MLB: Cleveland 5, Baltimore 4

BALTIMORE, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Andy Marte, his team down to its final strike in the ninth inning, came through with a two-run homer Thursday that gave Cleveland a 5-4 win over Baltimore.

The Orioles seemed on their way to a 4-3 victory when closer Jim Johnson (3-5) retired the first two batters in the ninth on grounders. Matt LaPorta, however, kept the inning alive with a single to center at the end of a seven-pitch at bat.

Marte, who spent most of this year with Class AAA Columbus, then worked Johnson for a 3-2 count before hitting his second home run of the season.

Kerry Wood surrendered a pair of two-out, infield singles in the bottom of the ninth before getting Nick Markakis to strike out swinging. Wood picked up his 17th save and made a winner out of Rafael Perez (3-2), who worked the eighth.