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Baltimore Orioles: On the bat of Steve Clevenger

By Domenic A. Vadala

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Baltimore Orioles’ catcher Steve Clevenger grew up just to the southwest of Oriole Park at Camden Yards – in Baltimore’s “Pigtown” neighborhood at that. Speaking for myself, in a business where guys rarely work close to where they’re from seeing a local kid make good is one of the cooler things to see. Hence one of the monikers by which Clevenger has become known since he’s been in the Orioles’ organization, “the pride of Pigtown.”

Clevenger of course hasn’t been up with the Orioles too much this year, but the fact is that he’s here now. And he sure helped starter Chris Tillman out tonight with his timely heroics. Tillman pitched a solid game, however he found himself trailing early. Tillman’s line: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 3 K. 

Former Oriole Danny Valencia started the scoring off with a solo homer in the second inning. However Davis would reach on an error in the fourth, which was followed by a Schoop base hit. That brought Clevenger to the plate with two outs and runners at the corners…

…and the pride of Pigtown didn’t disappoint. He smacked a three-run homer to

Courtesy of Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

right center field, giving the Orioles the lead at 3-1. Some people might not make much out of the fact that Clevenger is a Baltimore native. However keep in mind that it’s rare in sports to see a guy playing for his hometown team. Baltimore of course had the luxury of having it’s true hometown hero, the great Cal Ripken Jr. star here for quite some time. But again, he’s the exception – and Clevenger is nowhere near the player that Cal was. So having the opportunity to play everyday with his hometown team has to be pretty special.

A solo home run off the bat of Oakland’s Mark Canha in the sixth cut the Orioles’ lead to 3-2. However the Birds were having none of a potential comeback – and netiher was Oakland for that matter. I’m not sure I’ve seen a team commit more errors than Oakland did over this weekend series. (They had three tonight.) However as an insurance run, Caleb Joseph smacked an RBI-double in the last of the sixth, and the O’s took a 4-2 victory to the showers.

The Orioles swept this four-game series with Oakland, and thus won the season series between the two teams six games to one. They now find themselves 3.5 games out of first place in the AL East, and a full game ahead in the second wild card position. However it’s worth mentioning that Anaheim (who’s now chasing the O’s in the wild card standings) will play this evening at home against the ChiSox.

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Prior to the game the O’s also found out that their home game vs. Kansas City on Sunday September 13th has been moved to an 8:05 PM start. Yes folks, the O’s and Kansas City will be the Sunday Night game that week. Chalk that up to the presumption that the game will have playoff implications. It should be a nice little late afternoon/evening doubleheader for Baltimore; the Ravens play their week one game at Denver at 4:25, and the O’s are now set to go at 8:05 that night.

The O’s will welcome in the NY Mets tomorrow evening for a truncated series of only two games. Kevin Gausman will be on the mound for the Orioles. He’ll be opposed by the NYM’s Jacob deGrom. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: How poor can the AL East really be?

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