to a 12-4 win over the Seattle Mariners Tuesday night.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uPzslQoAXvdxe0bU7yCB9qDWPvSaWZyvM7z08jgSkI4rOwJMhitxjA4IQvgRHKAjUzX7WVlbJpdBV0GkqGMFy8yxdBZl-TapjWHOtwDEhzD0dXS2hnh8xiVzF2y1bC1cx1gxuo3VeE0_l8SwBeaJxC=s0-d)
on Monday night.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sd4mhShiDMvaepamhrYSw65f0R9VGsQHYTE2ShnkNn2UQUPfUY65EPcBGNJH9RrlOCZfHO_cOfBmExgXAcVWWb2gFV841hEvlPgM4f-jYujIAaN-wRK0X6oBUOkef7ArLK94E3fw7U5jZCRorx-w-5=s0-d)
Manager Dave Trembley chose to intentionally walk Vladimir Guerrero, who hit a two-run homer in the fifth, his second in two games, to load the bases.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_svATdJ3QmYvAZnsOFXYsCQTUQZPWYhonidHble2px_HpWSTRtzx69LrSUOQmV07N787id9D-N8IP00HCJYfnakGwWoFE7XRTnWEN1Gg-WFcQ0HPl8ZsgnJwFN59pRUVvrkyZy_uG3p6bLTINGjDwQ=s0-d)
manager Dave Trembley said. "You've got to stay away from the big inning and make the most of the opportunities that you have. There were breakdowns in a lot of different areas and we paid the price for that."![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vy4Y91LT-QIheZhj6nhM0G-SVmtG2GND0JEZMy72m7jHMrLmPCQuqZ9pgqoBnNhRQLIX10bhvABaEm8kQA3J2pZvvtrKQgAgQwMC7H7kO1mdugtEHW2deD9GQt_TIrOdPNF5xkHOc05VWQVaiIWMMS=s0-d)
David Hernandez appears to be in the Baltimore Orioles
Hernandez allowed three runs and six hits over 6 2-3 innings after being staked to a six-run lead in a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
"David knows that it's not a start-by-start basis. It's not a tryout. He's the guy. So he needs to just relax and prepare himself to pitch whenever his turn comes up," manager Dave Trembley said. "I think he did as well tonight as we've seen out of any of our young guys this season."
Of the four starting pitchers the Orioles are using in this series — Hernandez, Jeremy Guthrie, Jason Berken and Rich Hill — only Guthrie had faced the two-time defending AL West champs before.
"When you face that lineup, they'll make you work for it - especially those guys at the top," Trembley said. "We've got some guys who are learning at the major league level, and for the most part we're real impressed with the progress we're getting out of our guys. I think it says a lot about the future."
Hernandez (2-2) struck out two and walked two in his fourth big league start and second since Koji Uehara went on the disabled list with elbow tendinitis. The rookie right-hander gave up a fourth-inning RBI double by Maicer Izturis, and a two-run homer by Kendry Morales in the sixth.
"Being able to throw my off-speed pitches for strikes was really huge," Hernandez said. "I was able to locate my slider and changeup and get early outs, and that's what helped me pitch deep into the game. Sometimes that's the advantage you have when you're a pitcher they haven't seen before and they don't really know what to expect."
Aubrey Huff hit a three-run homer and Luke Scott doubled home two runs for the Orioles, whose victory dropped the Angels into a first-place tie with Texas for the division lead.
"The guy they had tonight, he has a nice arm and good velocity. The scouting reports said he was kind of wild, but I didn't see that tonight," Torii Hunter said of Hernandez. "I remember last year we faced a lot of young guys and first-time guys, and we didn't do so well."
George Sherrill got three outs for his 18th save in 21 chances.
Ervin Santana (1-4) threw 99 pitches over five innings, allowing six runs, eight hits and three walks in his first start off the disabled list, after missing two starts because of stiffness in his right forearm and triceps.
Two of the runs were unearned as a result of shortstop Erick Aybar's fielding error - only the third for Aybar in his last 45 games. In his four starts this season at Angel Stadium, Santana is 0-2 with a 12.12 ERA.
"You can go on rehab assignments - but when you come back here, you've got to find the rhythm. And that's what's going to happen with Santana," Hunter said. "But you've got to give him at least a couple of starts because he hasn't pitched in a while. He still had good stuff, but right now he's not himself and he's trying to find it."
The Orioles, who came in hitting a major league-best .298 with runners in scoring position, took a 2-0 lead in the first when Scott lined a double high off the 18-foot wall in right with the bases loaded.
Scott has driven in at least one run in four consecutive games, equaling the longest streak of his four-year career. The last time he did it was May 27-30, when he homered in his first four games off the disabled list and went 8 for 15 with 14 RBIs after missing 14 games with a left shoulder strain.
Huff, who didn't have an RBI in 15 previous career at-bats against Santana, made it 5-0 in the third with his 11th homer of the season. He has 14 RBIs in his last 14 games and a team-high 55 for the season.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vjcnavBFPmxLM5d0ouKbKFbRoJSJbB_wAUAXOBK2wedsVTSt98uv5IqQx2jZZLdUh8dK4mAMQSLniZnCwg87I_LFFT5_UEKqr5v4riH-LBUHg6x-xRGTvHUI-bcA2z7OejDYhkDSGXZEpLFdk6Z5wq=s0-d)
John Lackey looks to be back in top pitching shape.
Lackey pitched eight solid innings and Bobby Abreu provided the offense with two home runs as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles
The right-hander, who had a loss and a no-decision in his last two starts, got the run support he needed this time from Abreu's 14th career multihomer game and his first as an Angel.
He struck out seven and gave up four hits and a walk against the Orioles, who are in last place in the AL East.
The ace breezed through Baltimore's lineup, except for a jam in the fifth, showing the form when he won 19 games in 2007.
"This is the best stuff we've seen him have in a couple of years. This rivals anything we've seen with John," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
"When his fastball command is there, he can quietly roll through a lineup. ... His arm felt good, his delivery felt good and he was throwing to spots easy with a lot of life on his fastball tonight."
A fastball he utilized early.
"I was able to get through the first inning without throwing anything but a fastball so that kind of establishes that and gets you rolling a little bit," said Lackey, who missed the first six weeks of the season with a right forearm strain.
He gave up one single through the first four innings before getting into trouble in the fifth. Rookie Matt Wieters tied the game at 1 with an RBI single, but Lackey struck out Robert Andino and Brian Roberts with two runners on.
"He was putting it where he wanted it," catcher Mike Napoli said. "To me, it looked like the John of last year when he was going good. He was getting through a lot of innings. It looks like things are coming around now."
Both of Abreu's homers were to right field off starter Jeremy Guthrie, who gave up nine hits in seven innings.
Luke Scott homered in the seventh to bring the Orioles
within three runs, but they dropped to a dismal 11-24 on the road.
"Lackey had a real good slider. It seemed like when he got two strikes, he expanded the strike zone. We just didn't have enough tonight," Orioles manager Dave Tremblay said.
Guthrie made it through three easy innings before giving up the homer to Abreu in the fourth.
Then the Angels broke things open.
Maicer Izturis tripled and Napoli walked to put runners at the corners. Chone Figgins drove them in two batters later to make it 2-1 and Abreu cleared the bases with his sixth homer of the season.
"The bad pitch to Abreu on the first home run was a changeup that I left up. I tried to go in with a fastball the second time and got it in there, but he did a great job on it," Guthrie said. "It really surprised me that he put that much barrel on the ball and was able to hit it out like that. But he always has a good quality at-bat. He's just a great hitter."
The Angels are hoping this game gets Abreu going.
"It's great to see the power start to appear because that's something we obviously talked about in our lineups," Scioscia said. "We need more batter's box offense and slugging percentage and some guys are starting to get into their game and deliver and it's a big night for Bobby tonight. Hopefully he'll start doing it a little more consistently."
For a the second day in a row, Jonathan Papelbon unexpectedly found himself in position to try and become Boston's career saves leader.
Just one day before, Papelbon was defeated by the biggest comeback in Batimore Orioles
Boston used a four-run ninth inning to pull even, Julio Lugo singled in the tiebreaking run in the 11th and Papelbon emphatically closed a 6-5 victory over the Orioles.
Papelbon got three outs for his 20th save this season and 133rd with the Red Sox, breaking the team record held by Bob Stanley.
"Obviously, it feels good," Papelbon said. "When I set out to be the closer of the Boston Red Sox, there were definitely a lot of goals in sight and this was one of them. To finally get it and get it out of my head, you know, to stop thinking about it, is definitely good for me. It's done with. Let's move on."
On Tuesday night, Papelbon yielded the key hit in the eighth inning of a game in which Boston's bullpen blew a 10-1 lead before losing 11-10.
In this one, Red Sox pitchers retired the final 24 batters. Ty Wigginton hit a leadoff homer in the fourth off Josh Beckett to put the Orioles up 5-1, but that would be Baltimore's final baserunner.
"I thought today was a great opportunity for our bullpen to come show the league what we're really made of," Papelbon said. "I think we answered that with flying colors."
Daniel Bard struck out four in two innings and Ramon Ramirez (5-2) worked the 10th before Papelbon disposed of the Batimore Orioles
Baltimore starter Brad Bergesen gave up one run, struck out six, walked none and permitted only two runners past first base in eight innings. He was pulled after 103 pitches and with Baltimore comfortably ahead.
Then came the Boston ninth, when the Red Sox tied it against the Orioles' best two relievers. Kevin Youkilis hit a two-run homer off Jim Johnson before George Sherrill entered and immediately struck out Jason Bay and David Ortiz. Sherrill then allowed a single and two walks to load the bases for pinch-hitter Rocco Baldelli, who grounded a single up the middle to make it 5-5.
The decision to pull Bergesen left Orioles manager Dave Trembley open for second guessing, but he said, "To expect that he's going to go back out there in the ninth with his pitches where he was ... It was the right thing to do to get him out of there."
Bergesen deferred to the manager, saying, "I would always like to go back out there, and if I did I was going to battle. But Skip made the right decision. George and J.J., they've been stellar all year long, so those are the two guys you're going to go with."
In the 11th, Jacoby Ellsbury hit a leadoff double off Danys Baez (4-2) and scored when Lugo bounced a one-out single to left past the drawn-in infield.
"I just wanted to come through," Lugo said. "This is not a team that is going to roll over. They got to get 27 outs, and we proved that."
Although Bay struck out five times and went 0 for 15 in the series, the Red Sox took two of three from Baltimore for their seventh straight series win. On the heels of Tuesday's galling defeat, winning the finale felt that much better.
"I think the best thing is we needed to move on from last night," manager Terry Francona said. "The easiest way to move on is to win."
Wigginton and Luke Scott homered for the Orioles, now 29-2 when leading after eight innings.
making a comeback? in the biggest comeback in Orioles franchise history.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sPWJR4LneeBbdRVMMe8Vk_5sFfu-dRtURO4alxsI_xb9CAsPBIVajoZSz_jYLy4YjeipYbP2zHPW_AV_idjiCbJZGFUh2i_c1MQnsLyRU0YE6dOPg-mPgeuKOa7CjpAcGSuUuOqQzWCf4STC6hAig=s0-d)
BALTIMORE -- For three hours and forty-eight minutes on Saturday night, the Orioles and Tigers played a back-and-forth game of "anything you can do, I can do better."
Ten innings, 10 runs on both sides and 28 combined hits later, Orioles left fielder Luke Scott turned an 0-1 offering from the Tigers' Freddy Dolsi into a towering home run 420 feet out onto Eutaw Street, sending the Orioles home walk-off winners, 11-10.
"Kind of appropriate on a night when they're giving away those Orioles Magic tapes that something like this would happen," manager Dave Trembley said. "People who have been watching the club all year have seen similar type events like this. I tell you, every time it happens, it just makes you a little more proud to be around these guys, because they will not quit."
With his teammates awaiting his arrival at home plate, Scott sent his batting helmet into the fray like a bowling ball and slid into home, an exclamation mark on the win.
"He's like a little kid," said catcher Ramon Hernandez, who had his own drama an inning earlier. "He gets excited even when he gets a single. For him, he really loves the game. He'd play all day long -- twenty-four hours a day, he would play baseball. He's a great guy. It was a great game. He gave a lot of emotion."
In a game where both teams each had their own six-run innings, it was obvious early on in this one that the winner was going to be whoever could land the final blow. The Tigers looked to be the victor when they took a 10-9 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning and the ball in the hands of flame-throwing right-hander Joel Zumaya.
Enter Hernandez. Knowing the importance of his leadoff at-bat in the ninth, Hernandez sent the first pitch he saw from Zumaya into the left-field seats -- knotting the game at 10 and giving the Orioles, who hadn't scored since the fourth inning, new life.
"He's a tough pitcher... Tonight, he was throwing 100," Hernandez said of Zumaya. "Since I was batting leadoff, I knew I was going to get a fastball the first pitch. If I get a first pitch to hit, I was going to try to do the best I can, because if I fall behind against him, there's not going to be too many chances you're going to get."
The Orioles couldn't muster anything else off Zumaya in the inning, however, and the game was sent to extras. In the top of the 10th, the Tigers looked to have a shot at plating the go-ahead run yet again when Placido Polanco tried to score on a single to center by Gary Sheffield. But a strong throw by center fielder Adam Jones gunned down Polanco at the plate and ended the Tigers scoring threat.
"I did everything right," Jones said of the throw. "I set myself up, took my time and made a good throw... [I just thought] 'Throw it, throw it as hard as I can.' I've been throwing the ball high, so I just tried to keep my mindset down."
All this in a game where the Orioles were down 6-0 before they even stepped up to the plate. As Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson strode up to the plate for his second at-bat of the first inning, it was clear it was not going to be the best night for Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera.
Cabrera matched a season-high in earned runs in the first inning alone, as the right-hander allowed six runs on four hits -- two of them home runs -- two walks and a hit batsman.
"We got off to a terrible start," Trembley said. "Six pitches and we're basically behind, 6-0. The ball just wasn't coming out of Cabrera's hand very good. There wasn't much finish to it. To his credit, he's a horse. He put three zeros up. He was totally gassed."
When it did get its chance at the plate, Baltimore's offense was equal to the task. After putting up two runs in the first on a two-run homer by Melvin Mora, the Orioles did the Tigers' first-inning show one better in the third. Baltimore sustained a rally of eight hits -- a season high for one inning -- that saw six of its first eight baserunners come around to score, as the O's went from being on the wrong side of a blowout to commanding a one-run lead in a matter of minutes. Brian Roberts had two doubles in the inning, including an RBI-double that scored what was then the go-ahead run, to become the first Orioles to do that since B.J. Surhoff hit two in 1999.
But the Tigers offense, which was quiet from the third to the sixth inning, added three runs in the sixth and took a 10-9 lead.
Despite his rocky start, Cabrera outlasted his counterpart, Nate Robertson, who pitched just 2 1/3 innings, and was able to escape with a no-decision, tossing five innings while allowing six earned runs on five hits, five walks and a hit batsman.
The win was the Orioles 29th comeback victory of the season, and it was just the second time all season that the Tigers have given up a game when leading in the eighth inning.
"As a unit, when we go out there and we play, we're not focused on the scoreboard," Scott said. "We know we've got nine innings -- maybe more -- so each inning we go out there and we play, and that's all you can say."
BALTIMORE -- It was the pitchers' duel that wasn't.
In the finale of the Orioles' three-game series with the Rangers, pitching was certainly not the strong suit for either team as the two lineups combined for 21 runs on 29 hits and 12 walks. With the league's best offense in their corner, however, the Rangers came out on top of Sunday's slugfest, 11-10. It was the Orioles' 13th consecutive Sunday loss.
The Rangers blew open a 6-5 game in the eighth inning, tagging Orioles relievers Jim Johnson and George Sherrill for five runs in the inning to open up an 11-5 lead. But the Orioles' offense, which had been quiet since the fifth inning, simply would not let Baltimore go quietly -- a Nick Markakis three-run shot in the eighth and two solo home runs by Kevin Millar and Melvin Mora in the ninth, evidence of that.
"I thought we were going to get one today, we kept coming back and coming back," said manager Dave Trembley. "But it comes down to the tempo of the game set by the starting pitcher, and for the most part today right out of the gate, [Radhames] Liz was struggling. He got out of some tough jams early in the game, but his pitch count was way up and it just didn't happen.
"It was obvious," Trembley said of Liz's lack of control. "He had to work way too hard to get three outs. Way too hard."
Liz never looked to have his best stuff, allowing the first three Rangers batters of the game to reach, but was able to limit the damage to one run until the third inning. Liz then struggled with his control in the remaining 2 2/3 innings he was on the mound, throwing 103 pitches, and allowing six runs -- four of them earned -- off seven hits, five walks and two wild pitches.
It was the right-hander's second-shortest outing of the season; his shortest was a two-inning start at Milwaukee on June 26. Liz said he felt that he did not have all of his pitches working for him and his location was off -- especially on David Murphy's three-run homer to left field.
"I think my slider [was off] a little bit, but I think my changeup was good," Liz said. "My fastball just wasn't located well sometimes -- many times. When I got out of trouble in the first inning, in my mind I thought I got them, and after the second inning -- it was a good inning. But then in the third inning I got in trouble again. It's going to happen sometimes, it's not going to be perfect every time."
Liz's counterpart on the mound, Kevin Millwood, wasn't much better for the Rangers. The Orioles scored a run in each of the first three innings and two in the fifth before re-igniting in the eighth. Second baseman Brian Roberts was again the offensive catalyst for the Orioles, getting on base in the game's first at-bat, stealing second and third and coming around with the Orioles' first run on a sacrifice fly by Aubrey Huff. Roberts then added a solo home run to begin the third and the Orioles tacked on two more with a sustained rally that took them through the first eight batters of the lineup in the fifth.
But nonetheless, staring down the barrel of a six-run deficit heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Orioles offense came up swinging. The Orioles' first five batters reached in the inning -- the fourth being Markakis, who helped cut that six-run lead in half with one swing. Millar then led off the ninth with a solo shot to left -- his first home run since June 6 -- and three batters later, pinch-hitting for Freddie Bynum, Mora took the second pitch from C.J. Wilson and over the left-center-field wall, pulling the Orioles within an attainable run.
"I didn't even give them a chance to pitch to me," Mora said. "I just crushed the second pitch I saw. I know they don't want me to get on base because they don't want the tying run to come to the plate and I know they're going to try to stay on top of the count. I thought [we'd come back], especially with the leadoff guy coming to the plate followed by Nick [Markakis]."
Ultimately, the Orioles' offense, which went 2-19 with men in scoring position, simply couldn't overcome the hole their pitchers had dug for them. The teams used a combined 11 pitchers in this one, the Orioles sending six different hurlers to the mound while the Rangers used five, and none pitched with overwhelming effectiveness.
The Orioles' pitching woes were compounded in the fifth inning when reliever Adam Loewen left the game mid-batter with left elbow discomfort. Loewen, who was making just his third appearance since coming off the disabled list on June 30, will get a CT scan on the Monday morning to determine the extent of the problem.
"I think we gave it everything we got," Trembley said. "I think our team's ... success or failure is dependent upon what your starting pitching does. I think that's the name of the game, 90 percent of it is your starting pitching.
"We felt we were going to win today, even when they scored five runs in the eighth, we felt like we were going to win," Trembley said. "I don't think that's ever changed and I don't think that will ever change."
BALTIMORE -- Garrett Olson allowed two home runs on Thursday night, but the ball that hurt him most barely traveled 95 feet.
That ball, an apparently harmless nubber to first base, turned out to be a game-changing error that spurred a seven-run rally for Kansas City, removing Olson from the game and as the pitcher of record in a 10-7 loss for the Orioles.
Afterwards, Baltimore manager Dave Trembley calmly discussed his decision to go to the bullpen, which resulted in a fusillade of hits and runs. The Orioles allowed five hits and a sacrifice fly after Olson left to shift the balance.
"I'm not going to let Olson lose the game," Trembley said. "He'd already been behind 3-0. We came back and took the lead and he's the guy that walked the guy. He's the guy that gave up the 0-2 hit and obviously the momentum of the game was definitely changing right there. Let's get him out with a no-decision and at least try to win the game with a no-decision."
Olson had allowed three runs in the first three innings -- two on solo homers -- but his offense backed him with five runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth. The southpaw took a four-run cushion into the sixth before walking the first batter and allowing a double. But then he appeared to rebound, striking out one batter and coaxing a slow roller to first base.
There was only one problem: Kevin Millar, normally one of the team's steadiest defenders, couldn't corral a high hop. The veteran appeared to take his eye off the ball to look at the runner, and he wound up double-clutching and deflecting the ball past first base. One run scored on the play, but the action was just the beginning for the beleaguered Baltimore bullpen.
"Tough inning, tough inning," said Millar, who had only made two errors all season. "We had that game in hand and it was just one of those games where it fell apart. Couldn't stop the bleeding. Obviously, the error at first base, and we couldn't stop the bleeding -- five, six, seven hits after that. It's just one of those things and it's a tough loss."
"I think I created my own trouble in the sixth inning," added Olson. "You can't walk the leadoff hitter. A 2-0 count and I go back to a changeup. You've just got to be aggressive right there. If he does something with that pitch -- the worst case, a home run -- it's still not going to get them close, especially with that kind of lead. You just have to get that leadoff hitter out."
Trembley agreed with that sentiment, and he went right to southpaw Adam Loewen to try to stem the tide. Kansas City (39-47) notched three straight singles, though, before the Orioles (43-41) went to veteran reliever Chad Bradford. Mark Grudzielanek greeted him with a game-tying single, and Alex Gordon put the Royals ahead for good with a sacrifice fly.
Two more runs scored in that inning, and the Orioles were never able to find a rebuttal. The seven-run inning was the highest-scoring all year for any Baltimore opponent, and the participants just wanted to put it behind them.
"Until the manager comes to get the ball," said Loewen, who took his first loss as a reliever and fell to 0-2 for the season, "you stick it out and try to make the best pitches possible. And that's what I was trying to do. I don't feel like I unraveled out there. It was them making good swings, and all I can do is bounce back and be ready tomorrow."
"You've got to give Kansas City credit," Trembley said of the seven-run onslaught. "We gave them an opening and they took advantage of it and got a big inning, so that's all I can say. We gave them an opening with a leadoff walk and then the error in that inning and they made us pay for it. ... Loewen just pitched up and so did Bradford."
The late turnaround wasted a huge night at the plate for Aubrey Huff, who doubled in the first inning and contributed his second multi-homer game of the season. Baltimore trailed by three runs when Huff hit his first shot, a solo homer over the right-field fence in the fourth inning. The Orioles went on to score four more times to briefly take control.
Center fielder Adam Jones and shortstop Brandon Fahey contributed back-to-back triples in that rally, marking the first time the franchise had done that since August of the 2000 season. Huff knocked again in the fifth, when he drilled a two-run homer to give the Orioles a 7-3 lead. The veteran had also homered Wednesday night and now has 17 for the season.
"I've had some hot streaks," he said, "But over the last month, it's probably the best I've felt in a while."
Olson had won his last outing, but he's given up at least four earned runs in four of his last five starts. The left-hander has also given up two home runs in four of his last seven starts, and he's completed six innings in just four of his first 13 games. Both he and Trembley acknowledged that he has to start getting deeper into games in order to help the team.
"I don't know what it is," Olson said. "Maybe around that time, I start to feel like I get in a groove and maybe step back a little bit. You can't do that. You have to stay aggressive and stick with what worked for you early in the game. I think the leadoff hitter is a huge part of it, getting strike one. That's something I'm really going to have to focus on right now."
"I'm going to talk to [pitching coach Rick Kranitz] about it," said Trembley. "I've seen it with [Radhames] Liz as well. They've got to take that next step and get past that. They get to the fifth and we have a lead. And then they get to the sixth and we have a lead and then I think they get a little tentative. So I would think they've got to be a little bit more aggressive and get through that."
BALTIMORE -- Daniel Cabrera turned the page Wednesday night, putting a disastrous month behind him with a dominant outing. The hulking right-hander gave up two runs in the first three innings, but turned around to retire 14 straight batters between the fourth and the eighth innings, saving his bullpen and leading the Orioles to a 5-2 win over the Royals.
Cabrera, perhaps more than any other Oriole, needed that positive result. He had gone seven starts since his last victory, and his June ledger produced an unsightly 0-3 record with a 7.06 ERA. Cabrera (6-4) started shaky on Wednesday by allowing a leadoff home run to David DeJesus in the first inning, but rebounded after Baltimore's offense took control.
"It's good that month is over already," said Cabrera, who has thrown two complete games this season, with both coming against Kansas City. "It's a new month, and I'll just keep working and trying to keep doing what I do."
Baltimore's bullpen had thrown 14 innings in its previous three games, all of which were decided by two runs or less. Closer George Sherrill had thrown the previous three days, so manager Dave Trembley knew he needed Cabrera to go deep on Wednesday. And he told him as much, ratcheting up the pressure on his 6-foot-9 workhorse.
"When I met him on the top of the stairs last night," said Trembley, "I said, 'Hey, you know, our bullpen's pretty beat up. You've got to go deep into the game tomorrow night.' And he told me he would. But he [had] pitched a real good game against these guys in Kansas City. I thought late in the game the momentum played right into his hands. He was throwing first-pitch strikes and he got some 1-2-3 innings with less than 10 pitches in back-to-back innings. That probably really helped him a lot."
"It was nice to see," said Aubrey Huff, "to look back at the bullpen tonight and you don't see George warming up, giving him a day off with the arm. You can't say enough about him pitching a complete game. The bullpen really needed it."
Cabrera allowed the leadoff man to reach base in each of the first four innings, but he stranded runners in scoring position and used a third-inning double play to limit the damage. Trembley has often said that you can tell how Cabrera pitches by how he fares in the early innings, a prediction that seemed prescient after DeJesus took him deep to right field.
The Orioles (43-40) dug out of that deficit immediately on a two-run home run by Huff in the bottom of the first, and Baltimore answered Kansas City's next rally with another run of its own. Cabrera allowed a leadoff single in the fourth and balked the runner over to second, but then he kept the Royals (38-47) off the bases into the eighth.
With the victory, Cabrera improved to 5-0 with a 2.21 ERA in eight career starts against Kansas City.
"Well, you're probably not going to see Cabrera pitch any better than he did tonight," said Trembley. "His poise was outstanding. I thought really a small thing in the game that was probably a key element was ... when he balked and I sent [pitching coach Rick] Kranitz out to the mound to talk to him because I could see the smoke coming out of his ears."
"It was just one mistake in the game," said Cabrera, who didn't walk anyone for the fifth time this season. "I was mad at myself a little bit, but I just got back and said, 'You've got to keep doing what you're doing.'"
Baltimore gave him some more help in the fifth inning with a short rally off Kansas City starter Gil Meche. Leadoff man Brian Roberts walked to start the threat, and then Nick Markakis doubled on a ball that center fielder Joey Gathright saved from being a home run. Two batters later, Markakis scored when Ramon Hernandez singled through a drawn-in infield.
The Gathright play saved a sure homer, as the fleet-footed defender jumped high enough to get his elbow over the fence. He couldn't come down with the ball, though, and Markakis cruised into third base on an error by Mark Teahen.
"I think [Markakis] didn't think he hit it that good," said Trembley. "I thought it was an extra-base hit, but obviously a lot of balls that we hit tonight were right on the button and they made some tremendous plays in the field. We could've had a whole lot more runs if it weren't for some of the plays they made. They looked pretty good in the field. We had to match them."
Huff has hit five home runs this season that have given the Orioles a lead, and he's already matched his home run total (15) from last season. The veteran designated hitter said that it felt good to rediscover his power stroke.
"Last year, it was a struggle all year long," Huff said. "This year, I just came in here and tried to relax a little bit more. Last year, I think I tried to do too much. I really can't explain it. I feel a little bit looser and a little bit more relaxed."
CHICAGO -- See you again in 2126. The Orioles stopped the Cubs agonizingly short of tying their longest home winning streak in the last 118 years on Tuesday, snapping the North Siders' tear at 14 straight games. Baltimore took Chicago's best punch, with the Cubs loading the bases with no outs in the ninth inning and making three straight outs in a 7-5 loss.
The Cubs still tied the longest streak in Wrigley Field history, matching a 14-game mark from the summer of 1936. You have to go all the way back to 1890 -- and to West Side Park -- to find a longer home winning streak for Chicago. Baltimore was more concerned with today, though, and notched its fifth straight series-opening win on the road.
"People that have seen our team play all year, we're kind of used to it," said Baltimore manager Dave Trembley, who claimed not to be stressed in the eventful ninth inning. "They're going to have to earn it. We're not going to give it to them. We're not going to kick the ball. We're not going to walk people in. They're going to have to earn it. I've seen it before."
Perhaps he has, but never quite as nerve-rackingly as on Tuesday night. Baltimore closer George Sherrill, who had gotten a key out in the eighth inning, couldn't find his best form in the ninth. Chicago's first two batters reached base, and shortstop Ryan Theriot reached on an infield single. All of a sudden, the Cubs had three cracks at tying the game.
Sherrill dug down -- as he has often before -- and pitched best with his back against the wall. The southpaw struck out pinch-hitter Ronny Cedeno, getting him to flail wildly at a few pitches. And then he struck out Kosuke Fukudome, who had homered earlier and worked a 12-pitch at-bat in the eighth. Finally, he K'd Henry Blanco to end the game.
"He's unbelievable," said second baseman Brian Roberts, who recorded his 1,000th career hit on Tuesday night. "I've never seen anything like it. Our saying is, 'Never in doubt, Georgie, never in doubt.' But gosh, I'm starting to doubt. He's killing me out there. He's killing all of us. But shoot, it's fun. I don't think he ever doubts himself and that's all that matters."
Sherrill, who has 26 saves, agreed with that sentiment, saying that he only gets nervous when someone else is on the mound. When asked if his teammates felt the same way, he said wryly, "They might have doubts."
"I think it's just being lazy," he had said earlier, explaining how he could look so out of sync and then get it back. "Mentally and physically, just not concentrating on mechanics. You see a bunch of pitches sail high and aren't even close. Eventually, you've got to trust your stuff and just concentrate. I guess it takes bases loaded with nobody out to do it."
Baltimore (39-36) had led for virtually all of the game, riding a strong start from Jeremy Guthrie into the later innings. Six of the Orioles' eight starting position players had at least one hit, and five of them drove in at least one run. Luke Scott got things started with a two-run triple in the fourth, and Nick Markakis and Kevin Millar added run-scoring hits in the fifth.
Guthrie, meanwhile, was mowing down the Cubs (48-29). Fukudome reached him for a solo home run to straight-away center field in the fourth inning, but Guthrie (4-7) held steady in the middle innings. Chicago didn't score again until the seventh, when the first two batters reached base on singles and veteran Jim Edmonds cranked a homer to left field.
"It was a lot of fun," said Guthrie of his outing. "It's a historical ballpark. It's a lot of fun to be out there. I wish I would have hit better, maybe touched the bases. I wish I could have gone further in the game, but it was a lot of fun."
Things began to turn in the eighth inning on reliever Jim Johnson's watch, thanks to two epic at-bats. Pinch-hitter Daryle Ward fouled off several pitches to draw a walk, and Fukudome engaged Johnson for 12 pitches before grounding into a fielder's choice. Johnson allowed one more hit, and then Baltimore went to submarine specialist Chad Bradford.
Bradford got one out and allowed a run-scoring single, and Sherrill had to come on to get the final out. Without Johnson's plucky work, though, the Orioles may never have gotten the ball to their closer with the lead intact.
"You've just got to keep making pitches and try to make them put the ball in play," said Johnson, who also got three key outs in the seventh. "You've got to try and make your pitches still and not get frustrated. ... I kept throwing fastballs. I wasn't locating where I wanted to exactly, but they were still pretty good pitches. They just kept fouling them off."
"He kept throwing strikes," added Trembley. "I thought he got a lesson tonight in the pace of the game. Jim will keep going right at you but there's a time to take your foot off the pedal and slow the game down. It's not how hard you throw, it's where you throw. But he's been tremendous for us and this was a great experience for him tonight."
And it was a great experience for the Orioles, who made their first-ever trip to Wrigley Field and thwarted history in the process. They'll play again on Wednesday and Thursday, but those games will be hard-pressed to live up to Tuesday's drama.
"It's a big feather in our cap," said Scott. "It's a humbling experience. Any time you come in and play a first-place team in their backyard and come out with a win -- especially the way they battled us all day -- it's a tremendous accomplishment."
BALTIMORE -- Minutes after capping off a 7-5 victory against the Astros on Thursday night, Orioles closer George Sherrill walked into the clubhouse and placed a broom on Kevin Millar's chair.
After all, it wasn't just another win for the Orioles. It was the team's first three-game sweep of the season and the latest win came without the now almost-standard comeback heroics. The Orioles went ahead mid-way through this one and never looked back -- even when the Astros cut the four-run lead to two in the top of the ninth.
"When you get a sweep, I don't care if it's easy, hard, indifferent or whatever, you'll take it," manager Dave Trembley said. "It's a positive occurrence around here [and] I don't think that's happened very much. We had to work for it like last night, but I thought the intent after last night's game, from what I heard in the clubhouse, [a sweep] was the purpose tonight."
Although it began to look like it might be easy, the win was anything but that for the Orioles. After taking a 7-3 lead into the ninth inning, reliever Dennis Sarfate walked the Astros leadoff batter Ty Wigginton to start the inning. The Orioles then looked to have a double play in hand in the next at-bat when Mark Loretta hit a come-backer to Sarfate who turned and threw to second. Shortstop Alex Cintron, however, could not come up with the ball and the Orioles were not able to get a single out.
The Orioles allowed two runs to score in the inning but Sherrill was able to close it out, getting Lance Berkman to fly out to left field for the final out.
"I kind of probably spoke too soon when we talked earlier this afternoon -- I said there are two parts of the game, the first six innings and the last three," Trembley said. "The last three were totally different than the first six [tonight]. We got a little sloppy there at the end."
"We got some big hits," Trembley added. "We let [Shawn] Chacon off the hook early in the game, but we're swinging the bat really well."
Down a run in the fourth inning, catcher Ramon Hernandez took a 3-1 offering from Chacon over the fence in left field, tying the game at 2. Just two batters later, Cintron hit the first pitch he saw into the center-field bleachers. It was Cintron's first homer of the season and his first since September 7, 2007.
And in the fifth the Orioles tacked on three more runs. With Melvin Mora and Aubrey Huff leading off the inning with back-to-back singles, Kevin Millar then hit an RBI double and Jay Payton smacked a two-run single to drive them in -- a hit that would ultimately be the difference in the game.
Trembley called Payton's hit the single biggest of the game.
Huff then added a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh for good measure, his 12th homer of the year.
Orioles starter Brian Burres pitched well enough to earn the win, giving up three earned runs -- two off solo homers to Hunter Pence and Miguel Tejada respectively. Burres finished after 5 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits and two walks while striking out three.
"They hit two decent pitches," Burres said of the homers. "They weren't too bad of pitches, so you've got to just give them some credit."
"It's always nice even having the chance for the sweep," Burres added. "And then our bats just did a great job giving me support and room to pitch."
The Astros got on the board early with Michael Bourn scoring in the first inning on an RBI single by Lance Berkman and took a 2-0 lead by way of Pence's solo homer in the second. Chacon was tagged with the loss, going five innings and allowed six earned runs on eight hits and four walks.
"Hair's 2-0," Millar said of the team's record with his current bleach-blonde locks. "Lets get some blonde, platinum men out there in the stands. [The hair] won't be going anywhere, it's here for a little bit, we'll see how it goes on this roadtrip."
BALTIMORE -- Two worlds collided at Camden Yards on Tuesday night, when the Orioles got to test their new roster against their former franchise player. The Astros' Miguel Tejada made his first trip back to Baltimore since a December trade that heavily impacted both teams, but franchise stalwart Melvin Mora came up with the big hit in the Orioles' 6-5 win.
Tejada, a four-time All-Star, went 0-for-2 with a walk in his first game against his former team, but the Astros still controlled the game from the fifth inning all the way to the eighth. That's when Mora broke things open with a two-run double to right-center off Houston closer Jose Valverde, who had entered the game with one man out and two men on base.
"I don't care who's there," said Mora. "Miggy was a friend of mine and a friend of everybody here, [but] we just want to beat anybody. The only thing I don't understand is why the people booed him. He did everything he can do for this organization. He played day-in and day-out for us. He played hard every day, and I think you should clap when you see a guy like that."
The winning rally started on a single by Adam Jones, and shortstop Freddie Bynum bunted him over to second base. Reliever Doug Brocail wound up walking Brian Roberts, which forced the Astros (33-38) to summon Valverde. The right-hander struck out Nick Markakis and got ahead on Mora, who worked the count full and sprayed the game-winning double to right-center.
That hit helped the Orioles (35-34) improve to 4-28 when trailing after eight innings and to 16-10 in one-run games. Baltimore also earned its 16th victory in which it trailed by two runs or more and logged its 20th comeback win of the year. And to hear Mora tell it, the latest go-ahead hit seemed pretty unlikely considering the at-bat that directly preceded it.
"When I saw him pitching to Nick Markakis and he threw that high fastball, I said, 'I'm in trouble,' " said Mora, who went into the game hitting .370 with runners in scoring position. "I don't like when pitchers throw that high fastball, because you won't be able to catch it. I'm glad he threw me just strikes, and I said, 'OK, now I've got him.' ... I knew he was going to go after me."
"You know, people have asked me about Melvin being in the three-hole," added Baltimore manager Dave Trembley. "There's a lot of reasons. You put Roberts and Nick back-to-back [and] they're not going to walk one guy to face the other. So pick your poison there, but Melvin has experience and Melvin's numbers don't lie hitting with guys on base and hitting with men in scoring position. Melvin has got some awful big hits for us, and, boy, there was none bigger than the one he got tonight."
Baltimore starter Garrett Olson endured his second straight rough outing and was gone before the end of the fifth. The southpaw helped one run score with a pair of wild pitches in his first inning and was victimized for a two-out rally in the fifth. Three straight Astros got singles in that inning, and infielder Kazuo Matsui drove in two runs with a double.
Strangely enough, Olson had retired 12 straight batters when the Astros began to break through. The left-hander just couldn't find his best form, maddeningly searching for pitches that he had made easily just one inning before.
"Well, I didn't think it was going to end up like that," said Trembley of the way the game progressed. "I'm awful glad we won, but Olson pitched to the fifth [and had] two outs and nobody on and I don't know what happened. [Pitching coach Rick Kranitz has] got the term that he got stuck. I guess he got stuck and couldn't get it out of neutral."
"I think it started with that base hit," explained Olson. "I left the ball up, and for no reason I just wasn't making the adjustment to get the ball back down through the zone. I was just kind of leaving some pitches up and not trusting my pitches at all. I fell behind the next couple hitters and it just kind of snowballed on me. Before you know it, they have three runs.
"It was very frustrating, because I felt good. I felt like I had all my pitches working for me."
That hit sunk Baltimore behind, and starter Brandon Backe helped keep it that way. The right-hander had given up a two-run homer to Aubrey Huff in the third inning but stranded two runners on base in the fourth. Houston's bullpen escaped a tense situation in the seventh, stranding two runners on a strikeout by Baltimore catcher Ramon Hernandez.
The Orioles escaped a similar fate on Mora's full-count hit in the eighth, which meant that closer George Sherrill got a chance to exorcise some demons. The southpaw had a rocky weekend -- allowing runs in two straight outings and speaking of a "dead arm" on Sunday -- but redeemed himself by retiring the Astros in order for his 23rd save of the season.
"I felt pretty good today," he said. "I think icing [Sunday] and getting the day off yesterday really helped. I felt like I had a lot of life in the bullpen, so it gave me a little extra confidence going in."
Trembley, who will celebrate his one-year anniversary as Baltimore manager on Wednesday, reveled in the win.
"It's a real honor for me to be here. And somebody asked me earlier today what it was like for me, because I guess I've been here a year now," he said. "I'll tell everybody here: Watching this team, it's a privilege to be with this team.
"And for what this team has done and for the improvement that's gone on here and the approach and how these guys play the game, it's a real privilege for me to be a part of it."
BALTIMORE -- Turnabout may be fair play, but it isn't always evenly distributed. Baltimore and Pittsburgh swapped places on Sunday, spurring one team to empathize with its opponent's plight from the previous night. The Orioles tied the game late and fell to a 5-4 loss in extra innings Sunday, allowing the Pirates to avenge a similar result from Saturday night.
Pittsburgh had scratched out a late rally against Baltimore closer George Sherrill on Saturday, only to see the Orioles come back and spin a game-winning burst in the bottom of the ninth. That process reversed itself on Sunday, when second baseman Brian Roberts tied the game with two outs in the ninth and Sherrill had his second straight tough outing.
"It wasn't a normal three games -- that's for sure," said Roberts, who homered in the ninth. "We've kind of come to expect that this year. ... We always know in the late innings if we give ourselves a chance, at least we will fight our last nine outs."
"We felt all along that we were going to come back and win," added manager Dave Trembley. "There's no doubt about the approach here, or our thought process. We're thinking we're going to win. Even when we're down, 4-1, we thought we were going to find a way. Last game of a series, and the way things have been going, late in the game, things get interesting."
Sherrill had been 12-for-12 in save opportunities at home before the weekend, but the Pirates (34-36) reached him for three hits in Sunday's game-winning rally. First baseman Adam LaRoche -- who had homered off the relief ace on Saturday -- delivered the go-ahead hit in the top of the 10th, and Sherrill wound up falling to his second loss of the season.
In the aftermath, Sherrill said his shoulder felt tired and mentioned that he could use Monday's off-day to recharge.
"My arm was dead," he said. "I didn't feel like I had anything, and it showed. I didn't feel like I could get anybody out today. It's natural. Looking back at it, I think I've thrown in seven or eight out of 12 [games] or something like that."
"It just goes to show you he's human -- that's all," said Trembley of Sherrill's rough weekend. "It happens to the best of them. There [are] guys with a lot more experience than he has and have been in this game at the big league level [longer] that have struggled. They all go through it, but it just goes to show you how valuable of a guy he's been to us."
The Orioles (34-34) had trailed for virtually all of Sunday's game, falling behind in the third inning and staying there until Roberts hit a two-run homer that barely cleared the left-field wall in the ninth. Baltimore had leveraged its lineup so much that it wound up sending its designated hitter into the field in extra innings, a last-ditch effort that rarely occurs.
Pittsburgh had to do the same thing, but the altered defensive alignments didn't make a difference.
"We've been playing really good baseball," said O's left fielder Jay Payton, who singled in the ninth inning. "The good thing is, when we get down, we feel like we have a chance to come back and win the ballgame. Our pitching's been great, we've been able to swing the bats a little bit better of late, and we're just playing some good baseball right now."
All of that late energy helped redeem Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera, who reverted to his old walk-happy ways. The right-hander walked five batters and hit two others, sinking the Orioles to an early deficit. Cabrera has worked 16 innings and allowed 16 earned runs in his past three starts, pushing his ERA up nearly a full run (from 3.60 to 4.45).
His wildness caught back up to him on Sunday, but Cabrera managed to escape damage in the first and second inning. Center fielder Nate McLouth broke open a double shutout with a solo home run in the third, and Cabrera wilted soon after that. The right-hander walked one batter and hit another, and two runs came home on a two-out hit by Jason Michaels.
"I felt better than the last start -- they got me with three runs in the third inning, and that's what made the difference," said Cabrera, who has gone five starts without a victory. "I think [my fastball is] still a little flat. I didn't get the same movement that I had early, but I'm working on it and I hope I have some better movement for the next start."
Baltimore's offense started stirring in the fifth inning, when backup catcher Guillermo Quiroz hit a solo home run off Pittsburgh starter Paul Maholm. Aubrey Huff pulled Baltimore within two runs with another homer in the sixth, and McLouth helped stall a seventh-inning rally by making a two-out diving catch in center field off a Payton drive.
"I thought it was definitely down," said Payton. "He's probably a little bit more shallow because it's second and third instead of first and second. Being a little bit more shallow probably allowed him to get to it. I thought it was definitely going to fall."
The Orioles went quietly in the eighth, and didn't really begin to stir until there were two outs in the ninth. That's when Roberts reached out and drove a Matt Capps offering just over the left-field wall, scoring Oscar Salazar from first base. Capps (1-2) had also allowed the late Baltimore rally on Saturday, but he rebounded Sunday to pitch the 10th and seal the win.
"You can't play from behind every day," said Roberts of his team's dramatic bent. "You don't want to do that every day. But we certainly feel confident enough to do it. It's not a big deal at this point, but you want to give yourselves some runs early on. You want to give your starting pitcher something to work with. That would make it a little easier, certainly."
BALTIMORE -- If the Orioles have proved one thing this season, it's that no opponent's lead is safe -- 19 of the team's 34 wins have been come-from-behind victories. To emphasize that point, the Orioles came back for the second game in a row against the Pirates, and this time, they did it in walk-off style with an 8-7 victory Saturday.
The Orioles and Pirates (33-36) traded blows the entire game, but the knockout punch didn't connect until the bottom of the ninth inning, when Oscar Salazar took Matt Capps' (0-2) first pitch over the left-field wall to tie the game at 7. Two batters later, Freddie Bynum put himself in scoring position by hitting a single and stealing second base, before coming around with the winning run on Ramon Hernandez's single to left-center field.
The walk-off hit came just a half-inning after closer George Sherrill (2-1) blew his third save of the season, unable to hold a 6-5 Orioles lead. With Jason Bay on first base, Adam LaRoche took Sherrill's 2-1 pitch over the right-field wall -- an almost identical homer to the one Nick Markakis hit just two innings earlier to put the Orioles (34-33) ahead. Sherrill hadn't blown a save at home this season and had converted his past 12 opportunities, with his last blown save coming more than a month ago on May 7 against Oakland.
"What a tremendous game for our team and our fans," manager Dave Trembley said. "George Sherrill has meant so much to this club that we came in the clubhouse after and [Brian] Roberts said, 'Hey George, there was never a doubt. We were going to get one for you.' And I think that says something about our team. George Sherrill has meant so much to our team. For the guys to come back like they did -- not once, not twice, but three times ... that's just incredible, incredible, the fight that's in this team."
For Salazar, it had been six years between home runs, the last one coming on April 19, 2002 -- the last year he was in the Major Leagues -- when he was with the Detroit Tigers.
"It's unbelievable," Salazar said. "I looked for a pitch to hit. It's the ninth inning, we're down by one run, I'm just trying to hit the ball. ... As soon as it left my bat, I knew that ball was gone."
And Hernandez was more than happy to add the finishing touch, but with the fans at Camden Yards on their feet, Hernandez hit the fourth pitch of the at-bat down the right-field line, where a charging Xavier Nady ran into the wall, jamming his shoulder as the ball reached the seats. The injury delayed the Orioles' heroics by a few minutes, but two pitches later, Hernandez finished the job.
"I was going, 'Man, come on, just hurry up,' I'm kind of getting nervous just waiting," Hernandez said of the injury delay. "You just want to get it over with. You're warm, you see a few pitches, you kind of get in a rhythm. After that, it's tough [to wait for a] long time. You're trying to get your mind set again, trying to get it going.
"At least I'm happy that I did something to help my team. But every day somebody does something; it's not one guy doing it all. This year, all the guys work together."
The Orioles have been making quite a habit of coming from behind to win, but in this game, they were working themselves out of a hole almost every inning.
Roberts was the offensive sparkplug for the Orioles, helping to bring them back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits early in the game and getting on base in front of Markakis' homer in the seventh. Roberts accounted for the Baltimore's first two runs with a pair of RBI doubles in the third and fifth innings.
"You can never let anybody tell you you can't do something," Trembley said. "You can't succeed in this game and in life with that thought process at all. You have to believe you can do it and you have to know you can do it. That's just a tremendous game -- I can pick out so many guys. We're talking before the game about the improvement in Brian Roberts, how he's swinging the bat right-handed."
After the Orioles broke open a 2-2 game in the bottom of the sixth inning to go ahead 4-2, the Pirates came right back. Third baseman Jose Bautista smacked a three-run homer off Baltimore reliever Matt Albers, reclaiming the lead.
Shortstop Alex Cintron connected on a Zach Duke offering in the sixth with the bases loaded and sent it to deep left-center, giving the Orioles the short-lived two-run lead. Duke was tagged for four runs in a no-decision.
Radhames Liz threw 6 1/3 innings for Baltimore, once again turning in a solid start. Despite surrendering solo home runs to Nady in the second inning and Freddy Sanchez in the fourth, Liz only allowed four hits and struck out five, keeping the Orioles in the game. He allowed two base hits in the sixth and was pulled in favor of Albers, who got Doug Mientkiewicz to fly out to left field before giving up the three-run shot to Bautista.
"Liz, that's as good as you're going to see that guy," Trembley said. "You talk about improvement. [Rick] Kranitz did one small thing with him -- lined him up so that his step would be right toward home plate, and I tell you, from the first inning, that kid was impressive. And there's a lot of that stuff going on here."
BALTIMORE -- The story began at one extreme and wound itself back again. It would be easy to marry Orioles starter Brian Burres to the result from Friday night's game, which in turn would divorce him from an unsightly stat line. The truth is more complex, which means that Burres can get both credit and blame for Baltimore's 9-6 win over Pittsburgh.
The blame, of course, is fairly easy to pinpoint. Burres allowed six earned runs in the first three innings, sinking the Orioles into an early deficit and sending himself into early damage control mode. But then he settled down, keeping the Pirates (34-35) from adding any offense through the end of the sixth inning and allowing the home team to get back in the game.
"He had thrown a couple good innings. Plus, we needed him to throw six," said pitching coach Rick Kranitz on the decision to push Burres further. "We can't keep getting into our bullpen. These guys have got to go, and he righted himself pretty good. That's not an easy thing to do, especially after giving up six [runs]. He turned the tide and gave us our momentum."
The end result may be perplexing, but it's also quite indicative of the southpaw's season. Burres worked to a 3-1 record and a 2.59 ERA in his first four starts, but he's gone 2-4 with a 6.70 ERA since the end of April. He had been knocked out before the end of the fifth inning in three straight starts before Friday, when he seemed on the verge of doing it again.
But there he was, pitching scoreless ball from the fourth through the sixth, saving the game and perhaps his job in the process. Baltimore has already lost two arms from its Opening Day rotation, and Burres (5-5) could wind up being the third. The offense helped curtail that conversation Friday, thanks to a five-run burst spread between the fifth and sixth innings.
"I just started really attacking the zone a little bit better," Burres said. "I was falling behind a lot in those first couple innings. Later, I just started getting ahead of hitters a little more. I think it worked out a little better from there."
Strangely enough, Burres almost never got the chance to rebound. Reliever Lance Cormier was up in the bullpen at one point, and Kranitz and manager Dave Trembley repeatedly discussed the proper point to make a move.
"I was going to go to Cormier early and Kranny talked me out of it," Trembley said. "The second time, we kind of met halfway. Kranny just said, 'Hey, he's either got to show he can do it now or we won't be able to count on him again later on.' ... He said that the pitches that he made poorly weren't that bad. I've got to give my pitching coach credit."
"It's all a process," added Kranitz. "It's hard to say, 'Hey, because he's not throwing real good right now, what are we going to do about it?' It's my job to make sure that he gets going in the right direction, and I think we saw some pretty good signs today. That's really all he needed -- to get through a couple innings and get on a roll. He hadn't been able to.
"They'd gotten him, and they'd gotten him quick. It was just a good job for him, making it through six."
The Pirates went quietly in the first inning, but ripped into Burres in the second, when they loaded the bases with one out. The southpaw got a harmless fly ball, but allowed a two-run single with two outs to shortstop Jack Wilson. The Pirates came back for four more runs in the fourth, with right fielder Jason Michaels providing a three-run homer.
Baltimore (33-33) scored to make it a four-run game in the fourth inning and came back for more in the fifth. Veteran Kevin Millar brought the Orioles within a run on a two-run single, setting things up for more drama in the sixth. Melvin Mora singled to give the home team a lead, and the O's added insurance runs in the seventh and eighth to seal the win.
"The team did such a good job bailing me out," said Burres. "I put us in a pretty big hole early and just tried to keep it there as close as it could be. They did a great job battling back, and the bullpen did a great job, too."
Burres retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced, and Baltimore's bullpen handled the rest of the game. Right-handed reliever Jim Johnson pitched two perfect innings and closer George Sherrill worked the ninth for his 22nd save. But in the aftermath, Burres seemed to be the only story worth talking about in the O's clubhouse.
"I would say the biggest three outs Burres got in the game was in the sixth," said Trembley. "He slowed down. Before, when he gave up pitches, he looked like somebody had pulled the fire alarm. He was just really rushing, and we try to tell these guys that there's such a thing called tempo. There's a time to speed it up and time to slow it down, especially against a team that looks like they're basically running from the on-deck circle to get in the batter's box [and] can't wait to get in there."
"He was rough the first couple innings. He couldn't make pitches when he needed to," said catcher Ramon Hernandez, who doubled and drew two walks. "When he got ahead of the guys, he couldn't locate the pitch to put the guys away when he needed to with men in scoring position. But you know what? After the third inning ... he kind of settled down.
"I told him, 'We've got to keep going.' ... Our relievers were tired and had been pitching a lot, and I told him if we held them there, we might come back. You never know. He came back out, and the last three innings, he was tremendous."
