Matt Harvey drew the start for the Baltimore Orioles in game one of yet another twin bill against Seattle. The teams split a doubleheader on Tuesday after a rainout Monday night, and are playing two today following last night’s rainout. Harvey’s line: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K.
The O’s took an early 2-0 lead on Trey Mancini‘s two-run homer. And other than that, the Birds were held off the board. Seattle pitching has been pretty good in this series thus far. The Birds only mustered five hits in total in the game.
Seattle would tie things up in the top of the fifth on a Haniger two-run homer. And those were the only two runs charged to Harvey. It’s easy to look at that stat line and suggest that a starter going 4.2 innings and giving up two runs isn’t that good. However keep in mind that these doubleheaders are seven inning games. So that isn’t bad in and of itself. Following Harvey’s departure, Crawford would smack a two-RBI double in the sixth, which provided for the winning runs in Seattle’s 4-2 victory in the first of this twin bill.
My aversion to the seven inning doubleheaders is well documented. And admittedly my reasoning is that a baseball game is supposed to be nine innings. I’m steadfast in that. I feel that seven inning stuff is total garbage.
However above I mentioned Matt Harvey only lasting 4.2 innings in the game, and how in a seven inning game that isn’t awful. Keep in mind that those two runs he surrendered affect his ERA in the sense that it’s based on nine innings. If you throw in several games that are managed differently in terms of starting pitchers and innings pitched, that throws stats off – be it up or down. That makes a difference.
The series and the doubleheader will conclude in short order at Camden Yards. Bruce Zimmerman gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Seattle’s Justin Dunn. Game time is set for approximately 45 minutes after the completion of the first game, give or take at around 3:45 PM this afternoon.
Birdland Crush 