It’s been a great month-and-half for the Baltimore Orioles. After taking two of three from the Tigers over the weekend and winning six out of their last nine games, the Orioles returned home to take on the Blue Jays at home.
Despite being well out of the AL East race, the Jays have managed to stay over .500 and play for something — pride.
Having beat Baltimore in twelve straight games this season, one could consider that Toronto had their number. However, the Jays were facing the Orioles managed by Buck Showalter – not Trembley or Samuel.
They finally beat the Jays last night, 4-3, off a walk-off single by Luke Scott that plated in Nick Markakis. Brian Matusz, who has looked like a different pitcher over the past month, started the game, but left after being hit on the arm in the first inning. The Baltimore bullpen which had blown the game on Sunday in Detroit did a bang-up job, thanks to Rick VandenHurk’s 5 1/3 innings in relief and everyone else doing their part to keep the game close.
Yunel Escobar tied the game at three in the eighth inning off reliever Jim Johnson, but the triumervate of Koji Uehara, Mike Gonzalez, and David Hernandez keep the Jays from doing much else. Brian Roberts led off the game with a home run, but had to leave after being hit by a pitch off his thigh in the bottom of the eighth.
It goes without saying how different the Orioles are looking these days. Again, I don’t know if Buck Showalter is making that much of a difference, but the tide looks to have changed with the team.
They are now 24-15 since he debuted in August. It looks like the Orioles with their upcoming schedule – if they play as they have been over the last month — will have say in how the AL East shapes up.
Finally, congratulations to Brandon Snyder who got his first major league hit (an infield single) and RBI in the second inning of Monday’s game.
