This afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium, the Orioles and Boston Red Sox played to a 4-4 tie as the game was called after ten innings.
Jake Fox tied the game in the ninth to send Saturday’s contest into extra frames. Right now, he is having quite a strong showing in Spring Training – at least from what I have seen – and is trying to force his way onto the roster coming up north.
Brad Bergesen — who started the game for Baltimore, against Boston’s B-League team (ok, split squad) with Jacoby Ellisbury and Carl Crawford in the lineup – struggled on the afternoon. He gave up three runs in three innings of work and was hit pretty hard.
Again, for the Orioles to be successful in 2011, the pitching must come through. It’s early in Spring Training, but like I said yesterday, the arms have to be consistent start after start for the Orioles to even make headway in the American League East.
Vladmir Guerrero had a two-run single with the bases loaded in the fifth inning to tie the game at three, and prospect Joe Mahoney had an impressive showing going 3-for-3 with a walk, plus a stolen base.
After Bergesen’s poor showing, the bullpen – Mark Hendrickson, Jim Johnson, Mike Gonzalez and Raul Rivero – hunkered down and kept Boston off the board until the ninth inning. Pedro Viola gave up the fourth run for Baltimore as Boston’s Oscar Tejada – who went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs – singled to break a 3-3 tie.
Other than that, it will be interesting to see what happens with Luke Scott in left field. Although I think he’ll be serviceable out there and should catch what comes to him, Luke didn’t look good in the second inning as he allowed a hard hit to sail over his head opening up the flood gates. And yes, the Orioles really his need bat in the lineup…
As it is, Luke will play left field on a regular basis, but if the Orioles are ahead in games late – expect him to be pulled early for a defensive replacement, such as Felix Pie or Nolan Reimold.
