It was ugly out there for the Orioles last night at Camden Yards in more ways than one. They lost for second game in a row, this time to the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-2, to start off a six-game homestand.
The Orioles are now 14-17 on the season.
The offense once again could not get going as Baltimore only scored two runs against a Tampa Bay squad that looks nothing like the one they faced earlier in the season. Oriole pitcher Zach Britton took the loss and was solid – except for one bad inning, the second – and gave up three runs in only 5 1/3 innings.
Britton looked to be off and labored, but grinded it out. He tried to battle and the Orioles in the game, but his teammates didn’t reciprocate. Britton may not be the ace – yet – however, I like his bulldog approach on the mound and maintaining poise under pressure.
Meanwhile, James Shields – who was in stark contrast to Britton – looked very much like a veteran on the mound, pitching 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball for the win.
The Rays started on the attack early and struck again in the last two innings of the game, scoring once in the eighth and twice in the ninth.
Aside from Derrek Lee’s solo homer in sixth and Luke Scott’s RBI-double in the ninth, the Orioles only mustered three more hits.
For a team stacked with talent much better than they played this week, more should be happening at the plate. They no in way should have been dominated by Bruce Chen and Kansas City on Thursday. I figured they would be better against the Rays last night, but that was not the case.
Should there be a lineup shake up?
Maybe. Something needs to happen to get these guys in gear. The only thing is if you start taking guys out of the lineup, who do you replace them with?
Finally, I wondered why both teams played this game last night without a delay? I know the Orioles and Rays have a 1pm game today and the rain did go for the better part of five innings. However, while I know the players can play through cold and wind, it was inexcusable for them to play through a deluge of — rain and at times lightning.
The field – especially the infield – looked to be a mess at the apex of the storm. I know Nicole Sherry and her grounds crew did an amazing job in keeping the game going, plus allowing the pitchers to do their thing; however, one of the managers or the umpires really should have stopped the game at some point.
