Rangers Chase Arrietta Early

Jake Arrietta couldn’t keep the momentum going for Oriole starting pitchers as he made an early exit in game 2 of the day-night double header against the Texas Rangers. The Oriole righthander lasted only 3 and 1/3 innings and was knocked around for 8 earned runs.

After getting an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on an Adam Jones solo home run, Arrietta quickly surrendered the lead. He looked sharp in the first two innings, retiring the side in order in both frames. But the bottom of the order would get things going in the third for the Rangers as Arrietta walked David Murphy, gave up a bloop single to Mike Napoli and then walked Mitch Moreland. When you start losing your command against the Ranger line up, you’re in trouble. And when the line up turned over back to the top, things fell apart in a big way for Arrietta as he continued to miss his spots. Back to back two run singles by Elvis Andrus and Josh Hamilton would give the Rangers a 4-1 lead. And then Adrian Beltre would deliver the big blow with a two run bomb to deep left field. Arrietta learned the hard way you can’t fall behind the Ranger hitters, and you can’t leave pitches over the middle of the plate and expect to get away with it. He would come back out for the fourth, but he gave up two more runs as he continued to struggle hitting his spots, falling behind, and giving the Rangers very hittable pitches.

Not a good night for Arrietta, but its all part of the maturation process. Jake could be seen on the bench after coming out listening as Buck Showalter calmly chatted in his ear. Everyone gets roughed up once in a while, so hopefully Arrietta listens to Buck’s advice on how to avoid a big inning, learns from it and comes out better in five days.