Unlike last night, the Orioles fought against the Red Sox in a hard-fought game; however, the Boston smelled blood and jumped on the Baltimore bullpen. With the score tied at four in the bottom of the seventh, Victor Martinez came up as a pinch hitter with the bases loaded and came through with a bases-clearing double to give the Red Sox a 7-4.
Instead of folding, the Orioles got a run off Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon as Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters got on base with singles and Luke Scott hit a sacrifice fly to plate Markakis; however, with a runner on first base and two outs, Ty Wigginton hit a shallow a fly to end the contest. In the end, Baltimore lost 7-5, and Boston took both game of the two-game set.
Matt Albers took the loss on Wednesday as he was charged with the deciding run, although it was Danys Baez who gave up the deciding hit. Meanwhile, Jason Berken, who started the game for Baltimore certainly was a lot better than Hernandez – who pitched the night before – on Wednesday as he went 5 1/3 innings and gave up four runs (three earned).
Reliever Billy Wagner earned the win, and Papelbon got his 35th save although he made things interesting as usual with his inning pitched.
Boston scored twice in the first inning as Jason Bay had a two-run single; however, Berken dug a hole for himself early with two walks in the frame that setup Bay’s at-bat. The Orioles added a run off a Cesar Izturis groundout in the second inning, but the Red Sox added another run in the fourth thanks to a Jason Varitek RBI-double.
Baltimore scored once in the fifth inning off a Nolan Reimold sacrifice fly, but took a brief 4-3 lead in the sixth as Boston reliever Manny Delcarmen loaded the bases, and walked Brian Roberts allowing a run to score. Moments later, Felix Pie plated in a run with a single to give Baltimore the lead.
However, Berken gave up an RBI-single to Dustin Pedroia as he beat out an infield single, and the game was tied once again.
Brian Roberts on the night hit his 50th double of the season, which makes him only the fourth player in Major League history – with Tris Speaker, Paul Waner and Stan Musial being the others – to have three seasons or more with 50 plus doubles.
Despite the milestone reached on Wednesday for Roberts, the Orioles’ bullpen still seems to be troublesome and I wondered why it took them six pitchers – seriously – to get through the final three or so innings. I guess I saw some of the criticism that some have with Trembley that was evident with the swapping-put of pitchers (especially in the case of Castillo and Hendrickson); however, I guess managers now have to play out the percentages than go on instinct.
Then again, doing that all is easier said than done with a lineup that’s as deep and tough as the Boston Red Sox.
The Orioles head to New York next for the weekend, and I’m sure all eyes will be on the Bronx Friday as Derek Jeter tries to break the All-time Yankee hit record held by Lou Gehrig. I guess it will give ESPN, the New York papers and whoever else to honor Jeter. As much as I dislike the Yankees as an Oriole fan, Jeter does deserve many of the accolades being thrown out at him this week.
