Walk-Off Wednesday: David Lough has his day in Baltimore

The Baltimore Orioles are known for magical walk-off moments each season in Camden Yards. The 2014 season was no exception to this. On April 12th, the Orioles had their first walk-off victory of the season with a 2-1 win over the Blue Jays in 12 innings.

The game was scoreless through 7 2/3 innings as Baltimore’s Bud Norris and Toronto’s Drew Hutchison exchanged in a pitcher’s duel. Norris went seven scoreless innings with four strikeouts and Hutchison went six scoreless innings striking out five batters. The Orioles “struck” first as Jonathan Schoop ripped a double into right-center field scoring David Lough all the way from first base to take the 1-0 lead.

That score would carry all the way to the top of the ninth inning with then-closer Tommy Hunter on the mound. The Blue Jays were down to their last out and their last strike with center fielder Colby Rasmus at the plate. It appeared Rasmus swung for strike three, but the third base umpire did not see it that way and said Rasmus checked his swing.

That call would come back to haunt the Orioles and Hunter as Rasmus took a pitch later in the count to deep right-center field for a solo home run to tie the game up at 1-a-piece.

After the Orioles failed to push another run across in the bottom half of the inning, the game headed to extra innings. More solid pitching kept both teams from scoring and putting the game away. On the Orioles’ side of things, then-reliever Zach Britton pitched two scoreless innings in the 11th and 12th innings. His performance in this game made people start to wonder if he had the ability to be Baltimore’s closer.

In the bottom of the 12th inning, the Orioles were on the cusp of victory after second baseman Steve Lombardozzi hit a one out triple into center field. With Lough at the plate, the Orioles just needed a sacrifice fly to win the game. Lough gave them one better. With a 1-1 count, he drove a ball into left field and Lombardozzi could jog into home for the win.

The 2-1 victory improved Baltimore’s record to 5-6 on the year. After the game, Lough received a pie to the face from teammate Adam Jones. Jones was polite and implored Lough to close his eyes three times in a row before hitting him in the face with the tasty dessert. Unfortunately, we will never know what the flavor of the pie was because Lough has a strict diet and does not eat sweets of any kind.

Nevertheless, the pie initiated Lough to the Baltimore ball club. If you want to watch the full length video, click here.