It was ugly on Monday in Detroit, as the Oriole pitching corps just tanked and Kevin Millwood struggled to get out of the first as they lost to the Tigers, 12-9. The loss for Baltimore was their 57th of the season in 82 games.
In one of the craziest losses I’ve seen in quite a while, the offense wasn’t a problem – it was the pitching. After Matusz’s inspired start against the Red Sox on Sunday, the Orioles faced a tough task with the Tigers and they could not repeat the magic on Monday.
Millwood, by far had his worst start as an Oriole pitcher as he only pitched an inning, allowed five runs and threw 45 pitches. It was painful to watch on MASN, and after looking a lot better than he has the past few weeks, it was beyond ugly to see. He didn’t have much in terms of life on his pitches and labored out there.
Falling behind 5-1 at the start of the second inning, the Orioles pouched on Detroit starting pitcher Andrew Oliver – who probably was just as bad as Millwood. Oliver, who was handed a gift in the second inning, pissed it all away as the Orioles plated in five runs, and sent him to the dugout (much like Millwood.
It should go without saying – the Orioles are a little concerned with Millwood. Who knows how this outing will affect any future dealings on the trade market. And now… the team might put him on the DL.
Baltimore had a 6-5 lead … um, for about a few minutes.
Then, the Tigers struck again and plated three more runs in the second inning off reliever Mark Hendrickson – who was saddled with the loss.
With the score 8-5 at the start of third inning, the Orioles would add one more run off a Jake Fox homer, but would never get the lead back.
The bullpen for Baltimore could not get their team back in the game as Koji Uehara and Matt Albers – each allowing two runs in their respective turns on the mound – let the Tigers to build on their lead.
Despite it all, the Orioles didn’t fold and scored twice in the ninth inning giving the Tigers a little scare, but reliever Jose Valverde finished up the game.
Oriole pitching allowed the Tigers to rack up 17 hits, and Johnny Damon, Carlos Guillen and Brandon Inge each had three hits.
The Orioles managed to get 14 hits, and Jake Fox along with Julio Lugo had three hits. Matt Wieters had two hits, as well as Ty Wigginton – who broke out of a deep 1-for-31 slump.
Of course, they left nine on base and were 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
In other news, Felix Pie should return to the team on Tuesday. It’s assumed that either Frank Mata – likely – or Josh Bell will be optioned to Norfolk. It’ll be good to see Pie back, as this team needs a further spark if he could recapture some of the ability he had last season, the Orioles will be better off – if only slightly.
It’s also good to see the Corey Patterson will more than likely remain in the lineup as a DH according to the MASN broadcast today. Corey’s been a great addition to the Orioles this season, and with a hot streak going on at the plate, there’s no reason why he should not be in the lineup from here on out.
Finally, Chris Tillman down in Triple-A pitched a fine game today, going nine innings and allowing only one hit in a shutout.
Hopefully, he can deliver with some consistency at the major league level sooner rather than later.
