The Baltimore Orioles took on the New York Yankees this afternoon in the final meeting between the two teams before Opening Day. Mike Wright Jr. got the start, but struggled in terms of giving up the long ball. Wright’s line: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 2 K.
Wright got a lot of the strike zone in his outing, possibly too much. He admitted after coming out that the issue was the home runs (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):
I’m going to have 3-1 counts. That’s just the bottom line. It’s just how you get out of them, how you approach them. A walk in that situation wouldn’t have been the end of the world.
Wright gave up a two-run homer in the first, and a solo shot in the third. He also surrendered a second solo shot in the fourth, giving New York a 4-0 lead. As Wright said, a walk in theory is better than a homer.
The O’s got on the board in the sixth on an RBI-groundout by Alcides Escobar. Carlos Perez added a solo homer in the eighth, and suddenly the O’s has cut the lead in half. Unfortunately for the O’s, NY pitching shut down Oriole bats for most of the day.
But the good news for the Birds is that they also managed an RBI-single in the eighth following the Perez homer. And that single came off the bat of Chris Davis. Again, that should be the takeaway for today’s game. Davis has started to hit – even if only a little. That could be a good sign for the O’s moving forward.
New York would tack on an RBI-double in the ninth, taking the game 5-3. I suppose that it’s safe to say that the luck of the Irish was with them today. On this St. Patrick’s Day. Again as so said, the next time these two teams meet will be on Opening Day at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. New York also comes to Baltimore incidentally for the Orioles’ home opener.
The O’s head to Lakeland to take on Detroit tomorrow, in the beginning of the home stretch of spring training. Andrew Cashner gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Detroit’s Jordan Zimmerman. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.
Birdland Crush 