Birds Battle Back to Win in Texas
The Orioles overcame three errors and a four-run deficit to beat the Texas Rangers 6-4 on Thursday night.
Jeremy Guthrie was sloppy, allowing four runs and five walks over 4 2/3 innings, but the bullpen backed him up with 4 1/3 scoreless frames.
The offense slowly chipped away, and scored six unanswered runs in the final five innings. Scott Moore put the Birds on the board with a solo shot in the fifth, and Felix Pie launched a solo homer in the seventh.
Texas slowly unraveled in the top of the eight inning…Nick Markakis led-off and reached first on a fielding error before stealing second. Ty Wigginton singled to put runners on the corners before Adam Jones was plunked by a pitch on an 0-2 count to load the bases. The game was tied after Pie was hit by a pitch, and back-up catcher Craig Tatum drove in the go-ahead run with a walk. Julio Lugo singled with one out to give the Birds a 6-4 lead…
Let’s recap: two hits (both singles), a walk, an error and two batters hit by a pitch…sounds like the Birds got lucky, huh? I’ve seen it happen to us too many times before, so it was nice to see the “baseball gods” smile down on the O’s for a change…
While the offense chipped away, the bullpen was impressive, allowing just two hits and a walk through the final frames…David Hernandez (4-7) took the win, though he allowed both hits in relief. Alfredo Simon picked up his 11th save in 13 attempts.
The Birds look to make it two straight on Friday night…Brian Matusz takes the mound for the O’s.
