Last night in San Diego, the Orioles fell to a MLB worst 18-49 as the Padres’ Adrian Gonzalez drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning off David Hernandez and lost, 3-2.
With Baltimore up 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Hernandez just looked awful as he had absolutely no command and didn’t seem to have his best stuff. San Diego would jump on him to the tune of a lead-off walk, and seemingly hit-after-hit (for in the frame) which enabled the tying run to come in before deciding Gonzalez’s hit.
Heath Bell earned the win for San Diego on the mound, while Hernandez took the loss.
The Orioles did rally in the top of the 9th inning and broke open a 1-1 tie with a Julio Lugo RBI-single.
Brian Matusz once again had another solid start, going six innings and giving up a run. He would strike out four.
In fact, he could have conceivably won the game on Friday night if Adam Jones hadn’t seriously misplayed a ball in the 6th inning that allowed Adrian Gonzalez to double and plate in a run. Also, the Orioles cost themselves another run due to an interference play by Cesar Izturis in the fifth inning.
At this point, maybe Nick Markakis was right in his statements on Thursday. Once again, the offense could not get anything done and Baltimore paid for it again on Friday and throughout the season.
On the other hand, do you think it may be time to perhaps send Matt Wieters to the minors? I guess the question would who could possibly replace him day-to-day on the team, but his numbers are nothing short of awful at the moment.
He just looks very much off at the plate and I’m not sure if the losing is getting to him, he’s trying to do too much or what; however, much of the struggles of the Orioles this season can be attributed to the regression of the young players.
And Matt Wieters is a small part of the problem.
As well, even though Adam Jones has been a lot better at the plate, his play in the field isn’t leaving much to be desired. Right now, he’s just making way too many costly mistakes out in center field that aren’t helping the situation at hand.
Much like Matt, I don’t know if there’s something going on, or the strain of the season is getting to him, but these guys have to keep focus and have a plan out there.
