The Baltimore Orioles won again, this time in Boston, to kick-off their three game set against the Red Sox, by a score of 6-4 in 13 innings.
Baltimore has won three in row, and nine out of their past eleven games.
They are 17-9 so far this young season, and once again the bullpen came through in the clutch, tossing seven scoreless innings. As well, timely hitting played a big role – of course. Chris Davis’ RBI-single broke a game deadlocked at four in the 13th inning, and Mark Reynolds – who also hit his first homer of the season – added an important insurance run with sacrifice fly.
Closer Jim Johnson would get the save, his 8th of the season and Troy Patton (1-0) won in relief.
Wei-Yin Chen was shaky, as he went five innings and gave up four runs – three earned. He was not great – but he was not terrible, either. At least he prevented the game from becoming ugly, or a blowout like we have seen in the past with the Orioles up there. Trust me, the Orioles would have probably allowed a big inning to take a place, and find themselves out of the game.
For Boston, Jon Lester – who started on the mound – was not as sharp and didn’t dominate the Orioles as he has done in the past (with a record of 14-0). He went six innings and gave up three runs.
The defense was very shaky in the first few innings; however, J.J. Hardy made a highlight reel play that resulted in two outs in the eighth inning that could have saved the game for Baltimore.
Once again, the Orioles fought all night and showed they are not pushovers. I debated if this team could possibly sustain their level of current play considering the past history and talent level.
Why not?
Everyone knows the Orioles have sucked since Clinton was in office; however, they have been surging since September 2011, and have not eased off the accelerator. They don’t have a superstar, nor a prominent ace, but they have pitchers who have shown that they can deliver on the mound and young players that seem to be taking the next step.
They are in a very tough stretch with their schedule right now as we know. After the Boston series, they go home to face the Rangers and Rays.
It’s funny to say this, but right now, the Orioles look like they can beat anyone. They just need to see that their starters can go deep into games and not kill their bullpen; in addition, the timely hitting has to continue.
The Orioles have only played 26 games so far. If this season was a football game, the Orioles would not be out of first quarter yet.
There’s a lot that can still happen, but the Orioles are looking good so far.
