Rasmus homer gives Orioles win over the LA Angels

The Baltimore Orioles have a knack for winning in extra innings, and it has nothing to do with luck.

Manny Machado homered leading off the 12^th inning, and the Orioles survived a rocky outing from starter Chris Tillman in a 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday.

Baltimore is 12-3 in extra innings and has won seven straight.

Elsewhere in Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Atlanta 8-4 to move three games clear in the National League West ahead of San Francisco — whose form slump continued with a loss to Pittsburgh — while costing the Braves a chance to go back to the top of the NL West, with leader Washington also losing to Miami 3-0. Machado hit an off-speed pitch from Cory Rasmus (2-1) into the seats beyond left field to end a game of momentum swings between American League contenders Baltimore and Los Angeles. While the Angels lost a close one, their city rivals, the Dodgers beat Atlanta with Matt Kemp hitting a pair of two-run homers.

Yasiel Puig had four hits with two runs scored for Los Angeles, which was playing the Braves for the first time this season after beating them in the playoffs last year.

The Dodgers opened a three-game gap on San Francisco, which was beaten 3-1 at home by Pittsburgh, with Francisco Liriano producing a season-high 11 strikeouts in seven innings.

A former minor leaguer in the Giants organization, Liriano (3-7) retired 18 of the last 21 batters he faced. San Francisco lost their sixth straight, matching their longest losing run of the season.

The Pirates’ win moved them within one game of NL Central leaders Milwaukee, which lost 5-1 at Tampa Bay. Rays starter Alex Cobb (7-6) made 12 strikeouts in eight innings to improve his record over his past six starts to 5-0.

The Miami Marlins continued their surge into NL East contention by beating leader Washington 3-0, moving within five games of the Nationals.

Marlins starter Henderson Alvarez (8-5) pitched seven scoreless innings, though he escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second thanks to a diving catch by third baseman Casey McGehee. The Marlins won for the ninth time in 10 games and evened their record at 53-53.

Oakland stunned the Houston Astros with six runs in the ninth inning to win 7-4.

Alberto Callaspo hit a two-run single off closer Chad Qualls (1-2), and after Houston failed to turn a potential game-ending double play on John Jaso’s grounder, Jed Lowrie walked and Yoenis Cespedes tied the game with a single. Brandon Moss ended an 0-for-14 form slump with an RBI single to put the A’s ahead.

Chicago’s Jose Abreu and Adam Dunn hit consecutive home runs during a seven-run seventh inning that lifted the Chicago White Sox to an 11-4 win over Detroit. Abreu hit his major league-leading 31^st homer.