Saturday was a good one for the Orioles as they closed out a bad week, defeating the Washington Nationals, 8-3.
They snapped a painful four game losing streak and exorcised an embarrassing loss to the Nationals on Friday night.
Hard-luck starter Jeremy Guthrie finally got the run support he needed and sailed to an easy victory. He went seven innings and gave up two runs – all unearned. The runs came courtesy of a Brandon Snyder error in the third inning.
The offense came together scoring four runs in the third and seventh innings. Nolan Reimold – who was recalled from the minors on Friday – hit a two-run homer and five Orioles drove in a run each. Four Orioles – Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, Vladmir Guerrero and Matt Wieters – each had two hits.
John Lannan for Washington took the loss on Saturday.
A good win overall by the Orioles, but they could have more bad news potentially with Brian Roberts.
At the moment, he is on the seven-day disabled list with concussion symptoms. According to various reports, Roberts has not resumed physical activity for baseball and may not be ready to play as he is due to come off the disabled list on Tuesday.
Sadly, Roberts notes that he has headaches and is not sure when he’ll play again. For the past two seasons, it seems that he’s had health issues and can’t stay on the field. It’s like there’s one thing — or another keeping him off the field.
The Orioles really need what Roberts brings to table – nothing against Robert Andino or Felix Pie – but the offense lacks the intangibles that make him one of the better leadoff men in the game.
Jason Berken – who was sent down in Triple-A Norfolk – will start on the mound Tuesday.
It’s too bad that Berken had to be demoted in spite of his recovery from issues with his labrum; however, it’s a results-driven league and he was not getting the job done.
Also, it looks like Brian Matusz is close to a return as well. According to MASN’s Steve Melewski, Matusz threw six shutout innings and looked good.
It’s unknown whether Matusz will start again in the minors, or find himself in the majors again. I guess that will be figured out in the days to come.
