Roberts Lifts O's in Extras
This has been an absolutely incredible week to be an Orioles fan. Brian Roberts capped off the festivities with a lead-off homer, his first of the season, to give the O’s a 3-2 walk-off win in the tenth inning against the Chicago White Sox.
It honestly doesn’t get much better than this. After sweeping the Angels, the Birds took three of four from the Sox to take a season best homestand, 6-1. All seven games have been played with new skipper Buck Showalter at the helm, giving even more credence to the fact that a manager can, in fact, turn a team around. The O’s have been playing the best baseball I have seen from this team in years…
Brian Matusz turned in his second straight quality start, but took a no-decision after the bullpen blew the lead in the ninth. The O’s starters have now turned in seven consecutive quality starts…pitching, defense and timely hitting…wow, what a difference a week makes!
Matusz went six innings, allowing just one run off three hits and two walks while fanning four. Down 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Ty Wigginton evened the game with a solo shot to left before Luke Scott scored on a play at the plate to give Matusz the lead and a chance to win the game. Koji Uehara pitched two innings of no-hit ball before handing the game over to Alfredo Simon in the ninth inning…
Simon gave up a first-pitch-swinging lead-off home run, and the game was knotted at two. Michael Gonzalez and Matt Albers (who took the win) came on in relief and held Chicago’s potent lineup to just one hit through the final 1 2/3 innings.
With the game tied in the bottom of the tenth, Brian Roberts led-off with a mammoth homer over the right-field scoreboard to give the Birds yet another walk-off victory. Roberts crushed the second pitch he saw, perfectly timing his first round-tripper of the season…glad to see that man back in the lineup!
The Orioles now head out on the road…they take on Cleveland for three games before squaring off against the Tampa Bay Rays for another three-game series. Jake Arrieta takes the mound for the Birds Tuesday night…Go O’s!
