Eh, things did not go so well for the Baltimore Orioles last night at the Yard.
For the first half of the game, they were playing well and pitcher Scott Feldman – in his second start as an Oriole and first at Camden Yards – seemed to be putting together another solid start.
That is, until the sixth inning. Feldman got into a sticky situation, loaded the bases, and the powerhouse Texas Rangers took a 3-2 Oriole lead at that point and made it into an 8-3 deficit when the frame ended.
Feldman would not last the inning, and reliever Troy Patton added to the fire. When all was said and done, Texas would score six runs in the frame.
The Orioles, who have been resilient all year, got a two-run homer from catcher Matt Wieters later on and cut their deficit down to three.
However, Baltimore would lose Monday night’s game 8-5. They dropped the first contest of their four game series against the Rangers.
The Texas bullpen shut down the home team, and that was pretty much it.
The Orioles are now 49-41 and have dropped to third place in the American League East. The Tampa Bay Rays, who are always dangerous despite their finances, now have hold of second place in the division.
The Orioles may have scored five runs; however, the Rangers gave them opportunity after opportunity to score. They did not take advantage and were a putrid 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
They left ten runners on base and had umpteen chances to pounce on Derek Holland – who won the game – managed to only give up three runs on the night. Baltimore got ten hits and three walks off Holland on night; however, frankly they should have done more.
He allowed way too many Orioles to reach base, but he did his job and kept his team in the game. The execution by several Baltimore batters on the night was poor and they paid for it.
Not good.
Manny Machado had three hits and Adam Jones along with J.J. Hardy had two hits each.
Wieters and Brian Roberts drove in two runs. However, Chris Davis struck out FOUR times.
