Last night’s game was quite an event. The Orioles staged another come-from-behind victory this time relying on the long-ball. Adam Jones, Luke Scott, Ty Wigginton and Corey Patterson combined for five homers tying the season-high for the team. The bullpen put together another stellar performance bailing out Kevin Millwood who was solid but was sabotaged by some shoddy defense early in the game.
Corey Patterson loafed after as single that dropped in front of him and misplayed the soft line-drive into a run-scoring triple. Miguel Tejada in continuing his matador-esque style of play at third misplayed two balls. Only one was counted as an error, but both should have been. Millwod’s final line reads six runs with fiver earned, but in reality only three or four should were deserved to be earned.
After five innings the Orioles were down 6-4 and the game was shaping up to be a typical Orioles/ A’s affair. By typical I mean the A’s making great defensive plays; a reclamation project pitcher making the Orioles look stupid; a ton of infield hits and key errors making the the difference but last night was different.
Aforementioned reclamation project Ben Sheets pitched well enough, getting through the sixth inning giving up four runs, three earned, and striking out four but the A’s bullpen would unravel. Three A’s pitchers would combine for two innings giving up five runs on three homeruns. The Orioles bullpen, on the other hand, was once again fantastic. Hendrickson, Albers, Hernandez and Simon combined for four innings of one-hit ball.
The win was huge but the big story is Luke Scott. After Luke launched his 12th homerun he pulled up lame as he rounded second base. Scott barely made it around the bases and into the dugout as he tried not put weight on his leg. The official word is a strained hamstring and Scott was placed on the disabled list this morning. In a surprise move the Orioles recalled young thridbaseman Josh Bell. All had assumed that Felix Pie would make the jump back into the lineup but, according to the Sun’s Orioles Insider, the team did not want the injury to dictate Pie’s rehab. They want Felix to take more time in the field and get re-acclimated to in-game situations before getting back to the bigs. No argument here.
Bell has been batting .266 with 10 homers at Norfolk this year. Bell came to the Orioles last year in the deal that sent George Sherrill to the Dodgers. Bell got off to a very slow start in Norfolk but has turned it up recently. has it been good enough to warrant a call up? That is debatable, but with the all-star break right around the corner and an open roster spot there is no harm in giving the kid that many believe will be the thirdbaseman of the future a cup of coffee.
The Orioles won 9-6 last night. Jones was a triple short of the cycle, Markakis made a couple great plays in the outfield all in all it was a great night. What else……oh yes, in a great move the Oriole Post was allowed to cover the game from the pressbox last night. A huge thanks to the Orioles for reaching out to the blogging community and giving not only me but all the bloggers this chance. I sincerely hope to make a habit of it.
