BALTIMORE, Maryland May 8, 2014 - If you like the Orioles Bullpen, grab a seat, because in a game or two you will probably see everyone of them. Take Thursday Evening in Tampa. After one and one-half innings the Orioles lead Tampa Bay, 2-1. Thanks to Ubaldo Jimenez and the 'pen,' Tampa never scored again even though hardly an inning went by when the Rays didn't mount a serious threat. The Orioles only managed one more run, and that came in the fourth inning. The final score was 3-1, Orioles. The win enabled Baltimore to stay in first place, now by one-half game over the idle Yankees. The day started with the Orioles ahead of the Yanks by .002 in the pct. column. The victory also meant that for the first time in forever the Orioles swept the Rays in Tampa. They are now 5-0 against the Rays this season.
Jimenez, who Baltimore signed in the off-season for four years and $50 million, had gotten off to a horrible start, going 0-4 with an ERA not worth remembering. But his last two starts have been wonderful. In Minnesota last Friday, he threw eight innings of shut out baseball to earn his first win. Last night he was just slightly less awesome and the results were only slightly less commanding: five and one-third innings, seven hits, two walks, one run. Just one. He is now 2-4.
A couple of weeks ago the Orioles cut Steve Pearce. The veteran had battled his way on to the opening day roster, but once the season started he just wasn't getting in the line-up. By luck, they were able to resign him a few days later when no other team claimed him. Since the re-sign, he has been awesome, and the Orioles needed awesome because their record-setting slugger, Chris Davis, was hurt. Last night he hit his second homer of the series, banged out another hit, and made a play at first base that may well have saved the game. It was the bottom of the fifth and the Rays had a rally going (again). With one out, Ben Zobrist walked, Desmond Jennings got on base with an infield single, and Jimenez hit Matt Joyce with a pitch. Now, with one out, the bases are loaded, and the extremely dangerous Oriole-bashing Evan Longoria is up at bat. Every Oriole fan has their head in their hands and many are not even looking at the TV screen. Well, Longoria hits one of those ground balls that doesn't look like a double-play ground ball. But this is the Oriole infield, the one with gold gloves all over the place. J.J. Hardy slid over and fielded the ball cleanly and rifled a wonderful throw to second baseman Jonathan Schoop. Schoop caught it, stepped on second, pivoted beautifully, and rifled a throw toward first. The key word there is "toward." In truth, it was far to the outfield side of the bag. Steve Pearce embedded one foot on the inside of the bag and lunged at the ball. Fully prone and fully outstretched, he caught the ball, and darned if his foot wasn't still on the base for a split second after he caught it. First base umpire Alan Porter was down on one knee as the throw arrived, eyes glued toward the base. He called out. Joe Madden came storming out of the dugout, or at least he wanted to, but somebody his age was actually glad just to be able to get out of the dugout. He challenged the call, but the replay confirmed the absolute correctness of the call and the Orioles got out of another inning without being scored on.
Baltimore came out in the top of the sixth and looked for all the world like they were going to break the game wide open. Adam Jones and Matt Wieters both whacked singles off of David Price. Then J.J. Hardy walked, and now the bases are loaded and nobody is out. Madden comes out and pulls David Price, who has always owned the Orioles. But last night, when Madden appeared, Pric had already thrown 100 pitches, and this was after throwing 118 in his last start. Madden brought in Brad Boxberger, who had been recalled from Triple A just two nights earlier. So what did Boxberger do? In succession he struck out Pearce, Schoop and rookie catcher Caleb Joseph. And the score remained 3-1, Orioles. Now it is the Rays who look like they have the momentum. With one out, Wil Myers singles and then David DeJesus singles, with Myers racing to third on the DeJesus hit. Exit Jimenez, enter Ryan Webb. Yunei Escobar hits a ground ball to Manny Machado at third. If you are the Rays, this is a very bad place to hit the ball. Knowing what kind of a game this is, Machado quickly fires to Joseph at the plate and suddenly Myers is caught in a run down. But the Orioles don't exactly execute a text book run down. Joseph, just up with the Birds and catching because Wieters has a sore throwing elbow, runs Myers toward third but not enough. He does make a good throw to Hardy, covering third, and Hardy now runs Myers toward the plate. But he can't wait too long and so he throws home to Pearce, covering home. Now anybody who has played baseball knows that a rundown should never be more than two throws. But like I said, this is not a text book run down because it has already been three throws and Myers is still running. So are the other Rays. Pearce runs Myers back toward third a wee bit and finally tags him out, but DeJesus is at third and Escobar is at second. But now there are two outs. Madden pinch hits for his catcher, Jose Molina, bringing up his other catcher, Ryan Hanigan. Hanigan hits the ball hard but right at Hardy and the Orioles are out of the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh the Rays are at it again. With one out they have two men on because Webb has walked two men. And up at bat, again, is Longoria. It becomes a real battle. Webb gets two strikes but Longoria fouls off a bunch of balls and now the count is about full. And then, Webb strikes Longoria out. Buck Showalter then brings in lefty Brian Matusz to face James Loney. One night ago, Matusz was pulled after pitching to one batter and he was extremely upset, as the fans back in Baltimore understood because the TV camera caught him carrying on in the dugout. Showalter likes this. He says it means Matusz wants the ball. Tonight, Matusz gets James Loney on a routine fly to center. But when the bottom of the eighth inning comes around, Matusz is still on the mound, and for the first time since what? the bottom of the fourth, the Rays go 1-2-3. Ah! But there still is the ninth. Tommy Hunter, the regular Oriole closer - whom Rick Dempsey, the Oriole Hall-of-Fame Catcher, has already nicknamed "Don Stanhouse" Hunter, because like Stanhouse, Hunter gets his saves but never by retiring a team 1-2-3, is not going to pitch tonight because he pitched both Tuesday and Wednesday. And, like Dempsey alluded to, Hunter didn't get the Rays in order on either night, although he got a save both nights, but threw a lot of pitches to do so. With Hunter unavailable, Showalter goes with Darren O'Day. O'Day is a submarine pitcher, meaning he throws sidearm minus about 20 degrees, virtually underhanded. That kind of pitcher is hell on right-handed hitters but not so dangerous against left-handers. So what happens? Hannigan, a left-handed hitter, singles. Zobrist, batting lefthanded, singles. Two on, nobody out. Desmond Jennings up. Jennings hit a hard ground ball to Hardy and folks, that is another double-play. Now there are two outs with a runner at third. Joyner is up and he hits a ground ball to Pearce, who underhands to O'Day, covering first, and some lone Oriole fan out in left field starts waving a broom around. For the first time all season the Orioles are four games over .500.
Here are the up-to-the-minute American League Eastern Division Standings:
1, Baltimore Orioles: 18 wins, 14 losses, .563 pct
2. New York Yankees: 18 wins, 15 losses, .545 pct, 0.5 game behind
3. Toronto Blue Jays: 18 wins, 17 losses, .514 pct, 1.5 games behind
4. Boston Red Sox: 17 wins, 17 losses, .500 pct, 2 games behind
5. Tampa Bay Rays: 15 wins, 20 losses, .429 pct, 4.5 games behind
American League East Schedule for May 9, 2014
Houston Astros at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 pm EDT
New York Yankees at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:10 pm EDT
Los Angeles Angels at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 pm EDT
Boston Red Sox at Texas Rangers, 8:05 pm EDT
Cleveland Indians at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 pm EDT
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