The Orioles had quite a mixed bag from their young starting pitchers on Monday, as they played two split squad games in one day.
Baltimore moved to 4-3-2 in exhibition baseball action as they played to a 0-0 tie to the New York Yankees in the night cap. I saw the game on MLB.tv last night and young Zach Britton looked good despite a few hiccups in his start.
He went three innings, gave up two hits, allowed one walk, and struck out one. Considering he faced part of the Yankees A-team lineup – Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixiera and Robinson Cano – Britton’s outing was quite impressive.
The bullpen – Kevin, Jeremy Accardo, David Riske and Clay Rapada – did their job and kept the Yankees off the board.
Baltimore’s offense was non-existent as they only got six hits; however, the story of the day was Britton’s outing and that should give him a lot of consideration for the 5th starter spot. Then again, he may be slotted for the minors anyway just because of his experience level.
In the first split squad game, the Orioles lost to the Boston Red Sox, 6-5. Once again, Chris Tillman had a rough outing on Monday. From what I have seen so far, he needs to show some consistency in his outings and be more efficient, or he’ll be starting the year off in Triple-A. He gave up three runs in the first inning, but says his results didn’t match up his potential.
The Red Sox, who had many of their regulars in the lineup made Tillman pay in the opening frame until he calmed down to complete his outing.
The bullpen kept the Orioles in the game as Jason Berken, who pitched after Tillman left, went an inning and gave up a run. Nick Bierbrodt, Josh Rupe and Chorye Spoone kept the Red Sox at bay until Mark Worrell allowed Yamaico Navarro to plate in the winning run that broke a 5-5 tie.
On the offensive front, Robert Andino drove in two runs and Cesar Izturis added an RBI single; in addition, Nolan Reimold went 2-for-4 with a RBI, plus Matt Angle was 2-for-5.
In other news, watching the MASN broadcast via MLB.tv, there seemed to be some concern about the status of Derrek Lee. For the most part, Lee’s thumb injury seems to be healed; however, he is having wrist issues.
Who knows what is going to happen, but if Lee doesn’t start playing soon, I’ll be a little concerned. Luke Scott may be serviceable at first base; alas, he’s not a Gold Glover and certainly lacks the defensive skills of Lee.
Finally, the Orioles relaxed their long-standing and somewhat arcane facial hair policy. Not that it is a big concern – I’d rather see wins on the board; however, it’s great to see some of the players show a little bit of personality through goatees or beards (ok, neatly done … of course).
