After losing the first 2 games of the series against the
scorching-hot A’s, the Orioles, behind Wei-Yin Chen, were able to win the last
game of the series 6 to 1. Chen pitched 5.2 innings and struck out 12. With the win, Chen improves to 9-6 on the year.
To recap the series the Orioles started the series against
Oakland on Friday night, where Zach Britton faced off against A’s rookie
right-hander Jarrod Parker. This game went back-and-forth, with the A’s getting
off to a 5-0 lead by the 2nd inning. However, the O’s rallied back
with a homerun by Chris Davis in the 2nd inning and a homerun by
Adam Jones in the 5th inning. Jones homerun put the O’s up 6-5. In
the 6th inning the A’s pinch hit Seth Smith for Johnny Gomes and
Smith hit a base-clearing double to put the Athletics up 8-6. However, the O’s
battled back in the 8th inning and eventually took the lead 9-8. The
A’s came up in the 9th against O’s closer Jim Johnson, who has pitched
extremely solid this season, and scored six runs off of him. The O’s fell 14-9.
In the second game of the series, Tommy Hunter squared off
against Bartolo Colon. The game was kept scoreless until the 4th
inning, when smoking-hot A’s OF Yoenis Cespedes hit a two-run homerun off of
Hunter. Hunter, who has been plagued by the long-ball all year, gave up another
homerun to A’s 1B Chris Carter in the 6th. The O’s lone run came in
the 9th inning when Nick Markakis homered.
Thankfully for the Orioles, Chen was able to put together a
great outing today and Matt Wieters finally showed some sign of life with a
three-run homerun in the 3rd inning off of A’s success-story Travis
Blackley. Recently-acquired Omar Quintanilla also homered for the O’s.
(Another note from the today’s game is that the Orioles
started OF Lew Ford in left-field today and he batted 5th. Ford hasn’t
played in the big leagues since 2007, when he was a member of the Minnesota
Twins. It’s great to see Ford make it all the way back to “The Show”.)
However, the two losses against Oakland did hurt the O’s in
the Wild Card Standings. They are still 2.5 games back of Oakland and Anaheim.
The Orioles have some very crucial games in the upcoming
week. If the O’s want to stay at the top of the playoff hunt they must win both
series against the Yankees and the Rays.
The next week could really determine whether the O’s stay in
the playoff hunt or return to their former ways of being at the bottom of the cellar in the
AL East.
No comments:
Post a Comment