David Hess atone for himself fairly well in his spring finale for the Baltimore Orioles. He spotted Pittsburgh two runs, but settled down. Hess’ line: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K.
Hess gave up a solo homer in the first and second innings, giving Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead. However as we say so often, solo home runs aren’t ever going to kill you. In fact Hess only gave up one more hit on the outing.
But the O’s got things tied up quickly. Trey Mancini smacked a solo homer in the fourth inning. Later in the inning Joey Rickard‘s RBI-double tied the game at two. The Orioles would proceed to take a 3-2 lead later in the inning on Handed Alberto‘s sac fly-RBI.
Pittsburgh would tack on a solo homer in the sixth to tie the game at three. But the Birds were poised to win the game late on Drew Jackson‘s two-RBI single. However that was short lived…
…because the home team bats last. And when that home team smacks a grand slam down two in the ninth, it’s a walk off grand slam. The Birds fell on this day, 7-5.
The takeaway from this game was that Hess was roughed up just a bit. But as I’ve said, pitchers will get themselves in trouble. The good ones will get themselves out of it. Hess retired 11 of his final 12 batters faced. So that’s something.
Tomorrow evening the O’s head to Dunedin Stadium to take on Toronto for the final time this spring. Mike Wright Jr. gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Anibal Sanchez. Game time is set for just after 6 PM.
Birdland Crush 