Orioles Fall to Tigers 9-5
The Orioles fell to the Detroit Tigers at home tonight 9-5.
Andrew Cashner came into the game with a modest 3.60 ERA, but struggle all night. His command failed him and he allowed 11 baserunners in just 4 innings pitched. Cashner allowed 7 runs in his short outing, putting the Orioles behind the 8 ball immediately.
A lot of the damage was done with 2 outs, including Miguel Cabrera’s 3-run home run in the 2nd and James McCann’s rbi single in the 7th.
The Orioles were bolstered by several impressive defensive plays on the night. Newly called-up Joey Rickard made a lunging, inning-ending catch in the third, running face-first into the wall in right. The play saved a run from scoring and ended the inning. 1 inning later, Craig Gentry made a fantastic sliding grab in foul territory to strand a runner on second.
Unfortunately, the spectacular defense couldn’t make up for a couple impactful defensive lapses. The 4th inning began with Danny Valencia bobbling a grounder and skipping an ill-advised throw to Chris Davis, and allowing the runner to move to second. Just two batters later, Craig Gentry misjudged a Miguel Cabrera line drive, making a fruitless dive that allowed 2 runners to score.
The Orioles’ offense has been better in recent games, and it was again tonight. The birds had several rallies in the first few innings, but finally broke through in the 5th when Gentry grounded out softly to score Santander, who had tripled to the gap to lead the inning off. Buck’s team finally put up a crooked score in the 7th, scoring four runs. Three of the four came with 2 down off of a Pedro Alvarez bases loaded walk and a Manny Machado single up the middle. In the 9th, the birds threatened with the covers covered and 1 down, but they couldn’t score once again and the game ended.
The loss dropped Andrew Cashner to 1-4 and moves his ERA to 4.76.
The Orioles will play a rubber match tomorrow at 1 PM.
