Matt Wieters made his long-awaited major league debut on Friday; however, it was overshadowed by Luke Scott’s two home runs and 5 RBIs, as well as eight innings of work by Brad Bergesen. When all was said and done, their efforts helped the Orioles to their fifth straight win as they defeated the Detroit Tigers, 7-2.
Luke Scott, perhaps one of the streakiest hitters in baseball, had his second two-run homer night in as many days. He hit a grand slam homer in the third inning, and then followed up with a solo shot in the fifth inning. Since the left-handed slugger has come back to Baltimore, he’s had seven hits — five of them home runs to bolster an offense which had been sputtering for a while.
Nick Markakis drove in a run with an RBI single in the third inning, and Roberts had a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
Meanwhile, Brad Bergesen had his best showing in the majors so far by going eight innings and giving up two runs on Friday night. He was efficient — only throwing 105 pitches — threw strikes, pitched to contact, and used his defense to get outs. He gave up two runs — all in the seventh inning — thanks to an RBI-single by Curtis Granderson and an RBI-groundout by Brandon Inge.
When the game ended, both Scott and Bergesen got pekted with shaving cream pies for a job well done on Friday.
For the Tigers, Dontrelle Willis took the loss, and while it was good to see him on the mound along with overcoming his issues, he was very inconsistent and seemed to have a lot of trouble figuring it on the mound. Willis got hit around in the third inning, and Luke Scott’s blow pretty buried the Tigers in.
Well, the night was supposed to be about Matt Wieters. The young catcher was given a hearty applause in pre-game introductions and then giving a standing ovation in his first-at-bat in the majors. In each of his at-bats, flash bulbs went off, and the crowd urged him on at the plate/ Wieters was 0-for-4 on the night with a strikeout; however, he called a hell of a game with Bergesen on the mound, and that cannot be understated.
Camden Yards was stoked for the appearance of Wieters — perhaps the top rated prospect in baseball — and 42,704 showed up to see him play his first game ever in the majors. There was a buzz at the park, as his call-up had been topic one on sports talk radio, the newspapers, and the many Oriole and general baseball blogs/websites online.
I don’t know if Wieters’ callup is a watershed moment in the franchise’s history — yet — but, it was great to see fans extremely excited, positive about the Baltimore Orioles for a change. I don’t think anyone expects the Orioles to even come close to attending, but one of the cornerstones of the rebuilding plan has finally made it the majors and it’s great to see.
Finally, you have to give Wieters credit for how he’s handled the madness — it seems like at his young age he’s got perspective and seems to have a very good head on his shoulders.
