The Orioles were down, but never out last night in Florida; however, when all was said and done, they ended up losing in the 12th inning as Emilio Bonifacio scored the final run off a Jorge Cantu line drive to left, 7-6.
Baltimore scored twice in the eighth, and three times in the ninth to tie Tuesday night’s ball game at six; however, giving up the game in the twelth inning was their own undoing.
Everything started off as Bonifacio got on base via walk and then found himself on second thanks to a wild pitch by reliever Brian Bass — who lost the game. Thereafter, Bass intentionally walked Hanley Ramirez — who had hit a grand slam home run in the 7th to break open a 1-1 tie — and then allowed the game-winning single by Cantu.
Cantu’s liner was fielded by Luke Scott who then threw a rifle-like throw to home plate, but catcher Gregg Zaun could not hold on the ball and that allowed Bonifacio to tag home.
Sadly, the Orioles ended their five game win streak; however, the fact they came storming back from behind was amazing.
Matt Wieters hit his second homer in the eighth inning, and Brian Roberts plated in a run as he grounded into a double play to start Baltimore’s comeback. With the score 6-3 in the ninth, the Orioles used five singles (and RBIS from Melvina Mora, Matt Wieters and Ty Wigginton) off two different Florida relievers — Matt Lindstrom and Brian Sanches — to tie the game.
Baltimore’s first run came via a wild pitch by Florida starter by Andrew Miller that plated Brian Roberts for a 1-0 lead; however, Florida tied the game in the fifth as Dan Uggla hit a solo home run.
The Orioles coughed up the lead in the seventh inning as they allowed the Marlins to load up the bases and Ramirez took reliever Danys Baez deep for a grand slam home run, to give their opponents a 6-1 lead. Before Ramirez’s slam, Bonifacio drove in a run by grounding into a fielder’s choice.
Koji Uehara had a nice outing on the mound as he went six innings and only gave up run. His opponent on the mound, Andrew Miller for Florida, gave up a run in seven innings of work.
The Orioles made a minor trade today as the Orioles acquired minor league first baseman Michael Aubrey from the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named. I’m sure he’ll just a placeholder at the Triple-A level and a bench guy if Brandon Snyder — who I believe is playing first at Norfolk — falters or finds himself over matched.
Also, it looked like Cesar Izturis came off the DL last night, and Chris Ray threw 1 2/3 innings of impressive relief in the game against Florida.
