As we all know, the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Twins last night in a close contest, 5-4, and are now 8-9 on the season.
Zach Britton won his third game last night; however, from what I heard on the radio – on 105.7 FM – driving home was that he was under the weather. Assuming he was feeling a little ill, he put on quite a performance, giving up three runs in six innings of work.
So far, he’s been by far the best pitcher on the squad. Although he was off last night, he was able to get out trouble when needed. That’s a good sign.
He gave up an early solo homer to Michael Cuddyer in the second inning, and a run single to Danny Valencia in the 6th. Other than that, he was solid as can be, especially for a young pitcher facing a pesky team such as the Twins.
He said this (via the Associated Press) after the game:
“I wasn’t happy with the walks, especially with the 5-1 lead and you put guys on base and it ends up being a close game like that. I wasn’t happy with the way I necessarily performed, but we scored a lot of runs which kept us in the game which was good,” said Britton.
The bullpen made things interesting as Koji Uehara gave up a run in the eighth inning. Kevin Gregg earned his second save of the season, despite nearly giving up a long drive by Denard Span – which would have gone for extra bases – if Adam Jones didn’t hustle to catch the ball in center field.
It was great to see the offense break out again for the second night in a row. The Orioles plated four runs in the second inning of Nick Blackburn – who started for the Twins on the mound and took the loss – as Adam Jones hit a two-run double and Wieters followed up moments later with a two-run homer.
The Orioles added a huge insurance run in the third inning as Vladmir Guerrero hit his third homer of the season – an absolute bomb – to left field.
Despite blowing a 5-1 lead, Wednesday’s victory assures the Orioles at least a series spilt with the Twins.
If they could take 3-of-4 games from Minnesota, that would give Baltimore some much-needed momentum and confidence as they face New York at Camden Yards for a weekend series.
I’ll say this: Having the chance to go to Camden Yards in person more often this season due to my work situation (for now), it looks like Matt Wieters looks to be a lot more assertive catching and at the plate.
It looks like Matt has worked on his batting stance a little and it’s paid off. He’s been driving the ball with a bit more authority these days and it’s good to see. The Orioles definitely need him to break out.
Finally, it was good to finally have a ballgame aired on ESPN nationwide featuring the Birds — I think the broadcast was blacked out in the region for MASN. Anyhow, Pedro Gomez was around the park and got to interview a few Oriole players after the game. As well, former big leaguer, Nomar Garciaparra — who called the game with Dave O’Brien — was on the field before the game mingling with fans and signing autographs.
former Oriole Mike Deveraux in attendance along with…
Brady Anderson
