The Baltimore Orioles had an interesting start to tonight’s game against Atlanta in Sarasota. They jumped out to an early lead for starter Cole Irvin, who promptly gave the lead back over the next couple of innings. Probably shouldn’t have happened, but it did. Irvin’s line: 3.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 4 H, 3 K.
The O’s promptly loaded the bases in the first, and Jordan Westburg grounded into a force out, scoring a run. Heston Kjerstad and James McCann followed with RBI-singles, and Kolton Wong added two-RBI double. The O’s put a five-spot on the board in the first.
You would have thought that would be enough to add to the major league’s best spring record. But it wasn’t. Atlanta started to chip away immediately.
Aegis smacked a two-run homer in the second, followed by a solo shot by Luplow. One inning later they would get to within one at 5-4 on an RBI-single by Kelenic. He would score later in the inning on a two-RBI double by Guillome, and the Birds trailed.
For his part, Cole Irvin took his first bad outing in stride:
Didn’t get the swings that I thought I would but overall the responses that we’re getting from hitters are good. Little by little, chip away and take the good with the bad. I’m definitely not happy results-wise, but it’s spring training. It doesn’t hurt you right now.
Quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports
Pitchers are going to have bad outings. Even the goos ones. As Irvin himself said, you have to take the good with the bad. Good life advice also, and we all know that sports is partly a euphemism for real life.
I’ve said this for years, but pitchers are going to have approximately 30 starts over the course of the season – APPROXIMATELY 30. Ten will generally be really good. Ten will be really bad, and ten will be in the middle. So while this isn’t the regular season, it’s just a bad outing for Irvin. And again as I’ve said many times, those ten “in the middle starts” are where the success or failure of your season will lie.
The O’s would surrender an RBI-single to Conley in the ninth, closing out the scoring. The Birds fall to a mere 15-4 on the spring. So consider that, today was only their fourth loss on the spring.
Tomorrow the O’s head to Bradenton’s Lecom Park to take on Pittsburgh. Grayson Rodriguez gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Pittsburgh’s Marco Gonzalez. Game time is set for just after 3 PM.
Birdland Crush 