After Monday’s win, the Baltimore Orioles had quite a different sort of game last night. Shane Baz struggled, but roughed his way through five innings. Baz’s line: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 5 K.
I mentioned yesterday that Kyle Bradish commanded the strike zone. Baz did his share of nibbling last night, and the result speaks for itself. You can’t live on the fringes or the plate or off the plate. Bradish mowed down hitters left and right. Baz had balls put in play and runners reaching base.
He surrendered a two-run homer in the first to Schanuel, giving Anaheim a 2-0 lead. Baz kept them off the board until the fifth after that, when Grissom’s two-RBI single extended the lead to 4-0. Soler racked on a sac fly-RBI in the end of the inning, and the O’s trailed 5-0.
The O’s didn’t get a hit against Anaheim’s Johnson until the sixth. They got on the board in the seventh on an RBI-single by Leody Taveras. In total in the game, they only had three hits.
So it’s feast or famine in Anaheim. The one bright spot for the Birds was Albert Suarez, who pitched three innings of relief for the O’s, surrendering only one hit. He also kept the bullpen fresh for the series finale today. A win in the finale would give the Orioles a winning west coast road trip.
The series and the roadtrip conclude the afternoon at Angel Stadium. Trey Gibson gets the start for the O’s, done he’ll be opposed by Anaheim’s Jose Soriano. Game time is set for just after 4 PM.
Birdland Crush 