Baltimore Orioles fall despite late rally

The ultimate story of last night’s game was that the Baltimore Orioles fell to the NY Mets, 3-2. However the good news for the Birds is that starter Bud Norris provided yet another quality start for the team. Norris’ line: 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K. Norris had one bad inning (the fourth), which unforutunately did the O’s in.

However the Orioles could also learn a valuable lesson from that fourth inning, as in the top of the fourth they had the opportunity to do some damage of their own, and they squandered that chance. New York took advantage of their opportunities in the last of the inning, which equaled out to them winning the game.

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Adam Jones and Chris Davis led off the inning with singles, and they both moved into scoring position on Delmon Young‘s groundout. Caleb Joseph proceeded to strike out for the second out, and Travis Snider grounded out to end the inning. The O’s were stymied all night by the ageless wonder Bartolo Colon. While the guy might at times be an easy target for a laugh, you have to give him credit. First off the late movement he employed on his pitches all night was deadly. However anyone his age (42) and with his body type who can still compete at a professional level is doing something right.

Lucas Duda led off the last of the fourth with a double, and after a groundout Daniel Murphy‘s RBI-double gave NY a 1-0 lead. After a double by Wilmer Flores which left two runners in scoring position, Kevin Plawecki smacked a two-RBI double to put New York ahead 3-0. Throughout the inning, Norris didn’t look

Courtesy of Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

particularly good. however he also righted himself big time in the wake of the fourth inning, retiring the final 11 hitters that he faced.

It’s also fair to mention that Norris’ last outing was a week-and-a-half ago at home against Boston (the 18 run game). Obviously that layoff was not planned, but due to the civil unrest the O’s had to rework their schedule quickly. So that combined with the fact that Norris quickly adjusted and improved himself by leaps and bounds after that inning should tell fans that they probably shouldn’t worry (about Bud Norris).

The Orioles were able to rally, however. Manny Machado smacked a solo home run in the eighth inning, and Chris Davis added on in the ninth to make it a one-run game. However that was too little too late, and the Birds fell in Queens, 3-2. They’ll send Ubaldo Jimenez to the mound this evening in the series finale, and he’ll be opposed by the reigning NL rookie of the year, Jacob deGrom.

Prior to the game the New York Mets had a moment of silence in honor of Brian Moore, the NYPD officer who was killed in the line of duty this past Saturday. It was communicated to the O’s that Moore and his father had planned to attend last night’s game, and that in fact they were both big O’s fans. So the O’s brought a home white jersey that the entire team autographed and will be presented to the family. Officer Moore’s favorite player apparently was Chris Davis, who commented on the circumstance after the game to MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli:

"I said a little prayer before the game after finding everything out. It’s just kind of heavy on my heart. If I could do something to honor him, whether it was something to help us win or a bright spot, I’m glad I came through."

Kudos go out to both organizations for coming together to honor a slain police officer and thus a true American hero that died in the line of duty.

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