The Orioles went into tonight hoping to start a winning streak, and that's exactly what they did. They ensured a series split with the Twins as a result of a good outing from Zach Britton and incredibly timely hitting against Twins pitcher Nick Blackburn.
Both pitchers had quick 1-2-3 Toronto Maple Leafs jerseysfirst innings, with Zach Britton retiring the inside on just seven pitches. He didn't even give me a chance to subside on my couch before he was headed to the dugout. Nick Blackburn wasn't much worse because he only needed eleven pitches (seven ones were thrown to Derrek Lee).
The Twins got about the board in the second, as Michael Cuddyer took Britton deep with a fly ball that merely kept carrying within the wind, right on the fence in center field. Which was the beginning of a hardcore inning for Britton, while he followed your home run with a four-pitch walk to Jim Thome and, following a strike out, a bunt single to Luke Hughes. Britton got the next two batters to limit damages, but he was instructed to throw twenty-one pitches. Advantage he only needed seven in the first!
If Britton needed a breather after his long inning, this teammates were a lot more than happy to comply. Vladimir Guerrero hit the first pitch he saw to shortstop where Matt Tolbert fielded it deep in the hole and threw offline to first, giving Vlad an infield hit. I think you'll enjoyed it because you probably won't identify that again this coming year. Luke Scott followed Vlad using a single to right, then both batters moved high on a wild pitch. That gave Adam Jones the opportunity to knock in 2 runs, and that is exactly what he did. In a very 2-2 count, Blackburn threw a fastball low in the strike zone that Adam just reached out and slapped down the proper field line for any 2-run double. It wasn't essentially the most emphatic double ever hit, however it was a good approach by Jones.
After Mark Reynolds hit a fly ball to left to the first out, Matt Wieters stepped in, a perfectBrendan Haywood Swingman Altern yellow Jersey 5-for-5 with runners in scoring position this coming year. Could he possibly keep that streak alive? Could he remain the clutchest hitter the person clutched? Of course he could, how dare you doubt him? And that he didn't just get some good piddly single; he hit your house run to immediately centerfield. It was Matt's third home run of the year, that i'm happy to say that over the last three series Wieters has looked excellent at the plate. You start with the series in Nyc last week, Matt adjusted 7 for 22 (.318) with 2 BB, 2 2B, 3 HR.
Britton had more troubles in the third, allowing two singles before inducing a double play ball to obtain himself out of the inning. The good news is that neither ball was hit hard and both were grounders. That does gonna happen using a ground ball pitcher, I guess.
Nick Markakis led off the third inning with a solid single to left, his initially two hits around the night. It's nice to see Nick progressing base, although we didn't see him for very long as Derrek Lee immediately grounded in to a double play, clearing the bases. It is a shame, too, because Vlad followed Lee's AB with a home run, and it wasn't a cheap one either. It landed deep inside left field seats that will put the O's up by four runs. That might be last time the Orioles scored amongst gamers.
Britton cruised through the fourth and fifth innings, but fell apart in the sixth. He walked a couple of the first three batters he faced (he struck your other one), who then gone to live in second Washington Capitals jerseysand third over a ground out by Thome. With two down, Britton attended a full count to Danny Valencia before he hit an increased chopping ball over the center from the infield, scoring both runs. The prompted a try from the Mark Connor, and Britton just looked exhausted around the mound. We found after the sixth inning that Britton has become fighting flu-like symptoms, as well as in his post game press conference Buck Showalter said that he was pretty wheezy when Connor went there. At any rate, Britton got Luke Hughes heading to a grounder to 3rd base, ending the inning which has a two-run lead.
Jim Johnson took in the seventh inning and only agreed to be fantastic. He only needed eight pitches to have through the inning, prompting many in the gamethread (and I'd Tony Parker Swingman White Home Jerseyimagine around Birdland) to call for JJ to go back in the eighth. It could have made sense in my experience, but Buck instead selected Koji Uehara. When asked about it inside the press conference, Buck duplicated his decision by stating that if JJ had gotten into trouble within the eighth he'd have been out tomorrow, and also this way JJ are prompted to go tomorrow as required. It sounds good, I suppose, but I'd reason that if you use JJ for two main innings you'd still Koji tomorrow, but whatever.
When Koji began warming in the bullpen, the stress level underwent the roof on Camden Chat. It was obvious your move that Kevin Gregg would be pitching the ninth, and that doesn't make anyone (except Kevin Gregg) happy.
However things first. Koji wasn't at the top of his game tonight. He gave up one are powered by two hits plus a walk. A stroll? What the heck, Koji! That made it a one run game, which means that Gregg would have no room for error.
You can get on Kevin Gregg's case given how he's pitched this year, but just if you happen to were worried that maybe you were going way too hard on the guy, go examine the quotes he gave Britt Ghiroli. I'll wait..............
I understand, right?! Who does that guy think he could be? What a douche. But that douche was the guy arriving with a one-run lead inside the ninth, so for a brief moment I personally had to desire success for him. And really, it wasn't going to be THAT tough of the inning. He was facing the foot of the Twins lineup, including two batters (John Holm and Matt Tolbert) who will be only in the lineup because of injuries to Joe Mauer and Tsuyoshi Nishioka.
Well, Gregg went 3-1 on Holm prior to getting him to pop up, then struck out Tolbert. That left him with only Denard Span standing between him and glory. Span hit a thigh-high 92 mph fastball deep to centerfield. Jones raced back, I prepared myself to be pissed off, and then he caught it out and about, crashing in to the wall. It wasn't nearly as spectacular a catch as the one Markakis created to preserve Gregg's first save of the season, but it was great in its own right.
So there you have it. O's win, 5-4. Zach Britton battled through illness, Matt Wieters continued hitting, Vladdy did his part, and Kevin Gregg didn't give away the game. Not always a bad night.
