This afternoon in Sarasota, the Baltimore Orioles got shelled by the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-5.
It was a poor showing by Baltimore both on the pitching mound and on the field, where they made two critical errors en route to a loss.
After a solid outing, last week, Oriole starter Jake Arrieta got hammered as he gave up four runs in 2 2/3 innings. Arrieta gave up one run in the first, and three more during the second inning. According to the Sun’s Eduardo Encina, the results were not the essential thing for Arrieta – it was working on his delivery.
I’m not sure we should worry about him – yet.
The results certainly were not significant, but as long as Arrieta made it out healthy, it is a good thing.
Baltimore’s Jim Johnson also made his Spring Training debut, albeit; it was not a good one. Like Arrieta, he was working on stuff and it was simply beneficial for him to make it through his outing healthy, plus eat up an inning of work. Overall, he gave up three runs on four hits – all in the fifth inning.
Pitcher Willie Eyre also had a rough time of things in the seventh inning. He gave up four runs in 2/3 innings of work; however, none were earned.
Relievers Zach Phillips, Matt Lindstrom, Casey Fossum – a name from the past – and Pedro Strop did not give up a run in their outings on Wednesday.
The afternoon also saw the return of right fielder Nick Markakis, who went 0-for-2 with a walk. He is expected – according to reports – to take a few days off before playing again. Markakis will play the field on Tuesday.
For the offense, both J.J. Hardy – who had two hits – and Mark Reynolds homered, plus drove in two runs each. Endy Chavez also plated in a run.
Matt Wieters went 0-for-3 on Wednesday, and is only batting .118.
