BALTIMORE, Maryland May 7, 2014 - It was one of those nail-biters that Baseball is famous for. The Orioles loaded the bases so many times it seemed like innings started with the bases FOB (Full of Birds: thanks, again, Chuck!). On two of these occassions the Orioles loaded them up with less than two outs and only managed to score one run, each time, on sacrifice fly balls. In the 8th inning, the score was still tied, 3-3, and the Orioles loaded them up again with one out. Earlier in the inning, after Oriole catcher Steve Clevenger doubled, a bank of lights went out in centerfield. An announcement after the game blamed the incident on a bolt of lightning. After 19 minutes, play resumed and Oriole TV announcers Mike Bordick and Gary Thorne noted that all of the other lights seemed to be casting more and brighter light. Steve Pearce was up and Clevenger was at second and Matt Wieters, who singled to lead off the inning, was now at third. Joel Peralta was pitching for the Rays. Peralta got ahead on the count, 1-2, but he couldn't get the veteran Pearce - who got the Orioles on the board in the third inning with a solo homer - to bite on a bad pitch, and darned if Pearce didn't work him for a walk to, guess what, load the bases with one out. Up stepped Flaherty and he, too, immediately fell behind on the count, 1-2. And then Peralta let one ball get up and Flaherty jumped on it, lining it through the right-side of the infield for a hit. Wieters scored, putting the Birds ahead, 4-3, but Clevenger stopped at third, meaning that the bases remained loaded for Nick Markakis, and there was still only one out. Rays' Skipper, Joe Madden, came out after the play and pulled Peralta. He summonsed Juan Carlos Oviedo, a left-hander, to face the left-hand hitting Markakis. Markakis hit a hopping ground ball to the left of Tampa Bay's second baseman, Ben Zobrist. Zobrist ranged over, fielded the ball cleanly and made a quick and accurate throw to shortstop Yunei Escobar to get the force out on Flaherty, but Flaherty slid hard into Escobar, whose throw now to first baseman James Loney in an effort to get a doubleplay and keep the Orioles lead at one run, was wide. Loney did manage to catch the throw, but he had to come off of the base. Markakis, running hard, beat the throw, allowing Clevenger to score and putting the Orioles up two runs at 5-3. The Oriole bullpen did the rest.
Chris Tillman started for Baltimore, and he gave his team six strong innings, surrendering only five hits. But one of those hits was Evan Longoria's two-run homer in the first inning that staked the Rays to a 2-0 lead. Baltimore responded with single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to take a 3-2 lead. As stated, Pearce's homer off of Rays' starter Chris Archer accounted for the first run. Sacrifice flys by J.J. Hardy in the fourth inning and Adam Jones in the fifth inning scored the other two. Tampa scored a single run in the seventh inning that was charged to Tillman to tie the score. Wil Myers opened the seventh with a single, and then Tillman walked David Dejesus. That was enough for Bird manager Buck Showalter, who pulled Tillman in favor of Darren O'Day. O'Day induced Escobar to hit into a fielders choice, but he then hit Ryan Hanigan to load the bases. Myers was able to tag up and score the tie run when Zobrist hit a fly ball to center field.
Once the Birds got the lead, Showalter used Zach Britton in the 8th inning and Tommy Hunter in the ninth inning to hold it. Tampa staged an uprising in the ninth against Hunter, but Logan Forsythe struck out swinging with the bases loaded to end the affair and keep the Orioles ahead of the Yankees, who also won, by .002 percentage points.
In other American League Eastern Division Games, the Yankees stayed on the Orioles' heels with a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Angles in Anaheim, the third=place Boston Red Sox beat back the Cincinatti Reds, 4-3 at Fenway Park, and the Toronto Blue Jays won their third straight game, defeatomg the Phillies in Philadelphia, 6-5. Here are the American League Eastern Division Standings Up-to-the-Minute:
American League East
1, Baltimore Orioles: 16 wins, 14 losses, .533 pct
2. New York Yankees: 17 wins, 15 losses, .531 pct
3. Boston Red Sox: 16 wins, 17 losses, .485 pct, 1.5 games behind
3. Toronto Blue Jays: 16 wins, 17 losses, .485 pct, 1.5 games behind
5. Tampa Bay Rays: 15 wins, 18 losses, .455 pct, 2.5 games behind
American League East Schedule for May 7, 2014
Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 pm EDT
New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels, 10:05 pm EDT
Cincinatti Reds at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 pm EDT
Toronto Blue Jays at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:07 pm EDT
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