We all know that the Baltimore Orioles have lost the first two games of a crucial series against the American League East leading Boston Red Sox.
They were bludgeoned by the Sox on Tuesday night as Wei-Yin Chen struggled; however, they lost another one-run game last night as Mike Carp hit a bloop single in the eighth inning off reliever Tommy Hunter in the eighth inning.
Bud Norris – who started for Baltimore on the mound – pitched well; however, he was near the 100-pitch mark by the start of the sixth inning, and only lasted 5 1/3. When he left, the Orioles were leading 3-1, but Francisco Rodriguez could not hold down the Sox and gave up two runs in the seventh inning off a Dustin Pedroia two-run single.
The Orioles had their chances throughout the night off of John Lackey, who started for Boston, but could not again get runners home. They were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and again had problems manufacturing runs.
Despite the loss, Chris Davis hit his 47th homer of the year and drove in his 120th run.
As of this morning, the Orioles are 70-61 and trail the Red Sox by 7 ½ games in the division. It’s safe to say barring a complete collapse by the Red Sox, the Orioles taking the division may be out of reach.
They are now 4 ½ games behind the Oakland Athletics for the final American League wild card spot. The Cleveland Indians are ahead of Baltimore by ½ a game.
The wild card is still in reach for the Orioles; however, we all know by now that they just have to win and keep doing so.
As we head into the final month of the season, the Orioles are only 14-24 in one-run games. They were 29-9 last year.
It’s not too late for the Orioles to make a run into October, but they are going to need help.
In other news, the Orioles claimed Minnesota Twins outfielder/DH Josh Willingham off of waivers.
Time will tell if Baltimore and Minnesota can come to a deal, but the Orioles do need another bat – especially at the DH spot.
