Wow. What a game, but in very painful fashion, the Orioles just a few minutes ago just had their hearts ripped through their necks.
The loaded Boston Red Sox squad came through in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a two-RBI-hit by Adrian Gonzalez off reliever Kevin Gregg and they defeated the Baltimore Orioles in a thriller, 8-7.
Gregg took the loss for Baltimore; meanwhile, Alfredo Aceves won for Boston — who swept a reeling and drama-filled Yankees squad over the weekend and are winners of four stright.
It was a frustrating and exiting game to watch at the same time. The Orioles played hard, but as we’ve all seen with the Red Sox over the years, they are methodical, patient and look for any opportunity to take advantage of. Boston scored five runs in the sixth inning and things fell apart for Baltimore from there.
Chris Tillman was solid, but ran up his pitch count against a patient Boston lineup, throwing five innings of shut-out ball; however, the Red Sox kept chipping away at the Orioles in the final four innings and crossed the .500 plateau for the first time this season. In the end, the Oriole bullpen could not hold a gift-wrapped 6-0 lead.
The Baltimore offense came together and were demons on the basepaths, but that was not enough to stop a storming Boston squad. The good news is that the Orioles defense was on point making some incredible plays.
Vladmir Guerrero had three hits, Luke Scott walked four times & Mark Reynolds had two hits and drove in two runs. Also, four other Orioles in the starting lineup had at least a hit. Derrek Lee left the game early due to an oblique strain.
Daisuke Matsuzaka is um, so deliberate and freaking slow. I have no idea why this game took four hours to play, but pitchers like him sometimes makes baseball a pain to watch.
The Orioles have now fallen to 19-21 on the season.
More later in the morning or at some point on Tuesday. Have a good night out there.
