Keegan Akin is making a case to be in the Baltimore Orioles’ starting rotation this year coming out of spring training. However his chances may have taken a bit of a hit this evening against Atlanta at Ed Smith Stadium. Akin’s line: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K.
The four strikeouts and one walk were certainly positives. However Akin surrendered a third inning three-run homer by Pache, giving Atlanta a 3-0 lead. Akin admitted after coming out that he made a bad pitch to Pache (quote courtesy of Steve Melewski, MASNsports):
I would say so (one pitch really hurt). Just kind of felt uncomfortable out of the stretch. That’s kind of been my whole spring training memo I guess. Yeah, one bad pitch and obviously leadoff walks don’t help to start the inning. Have to eliminate those. Other than that, I felt pretty good.
However the last of the fourth saw the O’s get on the board. Anthony Santander‘s solo homer cut the Atlanta lead to 3-1. Hanser Alberto smacked a solo homer of his own one inning later. But it was the sixth inning that decided the actual outcome of the game.
Jose Iglesias‘ RBI-double in the last of the sixth tied the game at three. The Birds would later load the bases, and they were able to take the lead when Renato Nunez reached on an error. Dwight Smith Jr. would later get hit by a pitch, giving the O’s a 5-3 lead. Yusniel Diaz would smack an RBI-triple in the seventh, to close out the scoring in the Birds’ 6-3 win.
Again, one of the good things here is that the O’s didn’t quit when they were down early. That’s a good sign, and indicative of the moxie that this team had last year. They didn’t win a lot, but they never quit. That.’s important.
The O’s head to Dunedin tomorrow to take on the Toronto Blue Jays. Tom Eshelman gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Chase Anderson. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.
Birdland Crush 