Yikes.
What was looking to be a great game for the Orioles after rolling off three straight wins, got real ugly in the ninth as their bullpen allowed the Indians to plate eight runs.
In the end, Baltimore lost to Cleveland, 8-2, as Alfredo Simon blew a save and took the loss.
The Baltimore bullpen which had been performing so well as of late, absolutely went into the tank as Simon gave up four runs in the ninth. The damage was done when Simon gave up a three-run homer to Austin Kearns. Cla Meredith – who came into the game after Simon was pulled – poured more gas on the fire as he too gave up four runs.
It was not good. Simon has five saves, but seeing him on the mound, he was never lights out or got through any of his outings in clean fashion. You can live dangerously for only so long, but the hitters will catch up to you sooner rather than later. He threw too many pitches, ran up the count for the hitters and got hammered. Lest we forget, Simon almost blew the save on Wednesday; however, Patterson and Wieters bailed him out with the amazing play during the ninth inning of that game.
Simon has to be more consistent and stay ahead of the hitters.
The loss for the Orioles wasted a great outing from Brian Matusz who threw seven shutout innings and struck out six, while walking four on three hits. Ty Wigginton hit two solo homers – one in the second and seventh – to provide Baltimore’s offense.
Cleveland’s Mitch Talbot – who started the game on the mound – was excellent himself, going eight innings and only giving up two runs.
In other news, Rhyne Hughes – who was so hot in his first few games in the majors – was sent down to Norfolk. This should have come to little surprise to anyone paying attention – Hughes was scuffling and the league figured him out real quick.
Also, Brian Roberts and Mike Gonzalez have resumed some baseball activities – only a good thing.
