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| Camden Yards Through A Fisheye |
The
Orioles needed a starter to turn in a solid start and it came from an unlikely
source. Kevin Gausman went 7 innings tonight allowing 1 run 4 hits and racking
up 7 strikeouts. This was a pitching duel up until the 5th inning with the only
runs coming from solo homers from Adam Jones and Coco Crisp, Adam Jones' homer
was actually the Orioles only hit up until the 5th inning which shows the level
Sonny Gray was dealing on. In the 5th inning Sonny Gray started getting wild
and the Orioles offense pounced. Caleb Joseph got the scoring started with a
double after David Lough walked to lead off the inning giving the Orioles a 2-1
lead over the A's. Then Nick Markakis keeps his 12 game hitting streak going
and knocks Joseph in to up the lead to 3-1. Adam Jones rounds out the inning
with a single for his second RBI of the game putting the lead up to 4-1.
Afterwards Gausman showed resilience on the mound, after giving up back-to-back
singles to Eric Sogard and Coco Crisp he gets out of a jam by striking out Josh
Donaldson and Brandon Moss. That inning was proved to be huge once Sonny Gray
came out for the 6th but was removed after walking JJ Hardy leaving his final
line at 5.1 innings pitched with 5 earned runs allowed on 4 hits and he racked
up 7 strikeouts. Jim Johnson came in to relieve Gray and was greeted with a
smattering of boos (I don't understand why after all he has done for Baltimore
and the fact that we were the team that traded him) and a 2 run homer from
David Lough who seems to finally be putting it together at the plate to go
along with his gold glove caliber defense. The Orioles offense stayed hot in
this game and got some major add on runs which is something you have to do against
teams like Oakland who are never out of the game. After Lough's homer Gausman
came back with a clean 7th inning, which is a career long start for him and has
hopefully earned him another start in the rotation. In the 8th Brian Matuz came
on to relive Gausman and surrendered a hit and a walk, both of which scored on
a single off Darren O'Day bringing the score to 6-3. Just when Orioles fans
started to get worried O'Day came back out for the 9th inning and was able to
shut the door on those scrappy athletics ending the game with a strikeout of
Alberto Callaspo with a runner on second.
This game
showed just how much potential the Orioles have after beating Oakland's
"Ace" Sonny Gray who was rolling up until tonight. Gausman also held
down one of the best offenses in baseball. The player of the game would have to
go to Gausman with Caleb Joseph as a close runner up. Joseph did some things
that won't show up on the stat sheet like, how he worked out of an 0-2 hole en
route to his go ahead double in the 5th as well as calling a great game and
keeping Gausman settled throughout the game.
Preview to Tomorrow:
Scott
Kazmir who is 6-2 with a 2.40 ERA will oppose Ubaldo Jimenez who is 2-6 with a
4.39 ERA in the rubber match of this series. This is another game that has the
potential to be a pitchers duel with the roll Kazmir has been on and how Ubaldo
battles during every start.
Remember
that if you like what you've read to follow me @Chuck_Yeaa on twitter to
talk some baseball and don't hesitate to like the blog on Facebook at Chuck's Sports Chat. I'm also looking for guest writers so let me know if you're interested.
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