Quite honestly, Kyle Bradish pitched better than his stat line indicates this evening for the Baltimore Orioles. And his stat line was pretty darned good. But end of the day, you can pitch to a quality start all day long, and if your team can’t score any runs behind you it has no shot at a win. And this evening at Tropicana Field, that’s exactly what happened. Bradish’s line: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K.
Unfortunately for the Orioles, Tampa starter Eflin was pretty darned good also. He kept Oriole bats at bay on this night. The Birds only mustered two hits.
Ramirez smacked an RBI-double in the second, and Paredes a solo homer in the last of the sixth. Those were the only two runs that Bradish surrendered. New Oriole reliever Shintaro Funinami also surrendered a solo homer in the seventh to Siri – on the first pitch he threw in the game and as an Oriole.
The Orioles remain in a statistical tie atop the AL East standings with Tampa. Which makes tomorrow and Sunday’s games huge for both teams. Neither the division nor playoff seedlings will be determined in a series in July. Heck, the O’s could still miss the playoffs for all we know. But this series will ultimately go a long way to deciding the future.
The series continues tomorrow afternoon at Tropicana Field. Grayson Rodriguez gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Tampa’s Shane McClanahan. Game time is set for just after 4 PM.
Birdland Crush 