A small crowd last night at Camden Yards saw the Orioles win their second game in a row, and their 10th on the season, as they beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1.
There’s nothing like a well-pitched, low-scoring ball game, and both teams did that last night.
In the first contest of a three-game set, Tommy Hunter pitched six innings, and only gave up a run to record his second win of the season. Meanwhile, Pedro Strop struck out two in the ninth inning to earn his first major league save. The bullpen came through in a significant way and shutdown the Blue Jays on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, Henderson Alvarez also pitched well for the Jays; however, he took the loss, giving up two runs in seven innings. He only allowed five hits.
The Orioles with a 10-7 record are among the American League East leaders along with the Yankees, Jays and Rays.
Eric Thames hit a long homer off Hunter in the third inning; however, that was the only mistake he made. Considering how shaky Hunter has been in his last two starts, he showed his potential against the Jays. Hopefully it is a sign in the right direction, and that the Orioles can have consistency on the mound, night in and night out.
The Orioles scored their first run in the opening inning of an Adam Jones groundout, and then Matt Wieters hit an opposite field homer – which tipped off of Eric Thames glove as he tried to catch it against the wall.
The long ball for Wieters was his sixth of the season, quite a nice development considering the criticism he had gotten the last few years. He was supposed to be ‘Mauer with Power’, and now perhaps that is coming to fruition.
Baltimore has been at the top of their division for the past week or so now. It is nice to see them playing hard and being competitive for a change. Do I expect them to still be among the divisional leaders in July? No.
However, stranger things have happened. They are winning one run games and coming through with timely hitting. Hopefully they continue to win, and the development of the young players continues.
