Baltimore Orioles: Manny Machado continues hot streak in loss

Manny Machado smacked another homer for the Baltimore Orioles, who fell to Toronto 4-3.

Manny Machado is really starting to turn into the player that the Baltimore Orioles hoped he would be. His bat is now a “presence” in the Orioles’ lineup, and one with which teams have to contend at that. Albeit it in a loss, he smacked another homer last night against Toronto.

Mike Wright picked up the loss, although he turned in a quality start. Wright’s line: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 4 K. Wright pitched well, he just turned into a hard-luck loser. These things even out over the course of the season, however; keep in mind that Wright hung onto win a game in which he might not have been 100% at his best last week at Fenway.

Unfortunately Toronto has been a thorn in the Orioles’ side overall in the past couple of years. Even in 2014 when they won the division, Toronto would seemingly push them to the brink. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing; the fact is that these two teams always play each other tough.

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Toronto picked up three runs in the second and third, on a Goins fielder’s choice-RBI, and a Tulowitzki two-RBI double. However the O’s got on the board with Machado’s solo home run in the last of the fourth to cut the lead to 3-1. And you

notice I say it was a solo homer; that’s one of the big knocks on the Orioles’ offense – that in many cases when the homers occur nobody’s on base. The fact is that they say solo homers won’t kill you – and they didn’t kill Toronto last night.

Toronto would extend their lead to 4-1 on a Bautista RBI-double in the seventh. In the last of the inning however the O’s got back to within one on a Wieters two-run homer. But that’s as close as they could get, and the O’s fell to Toronto 4-3.

Naysayers might point out that eight of the last nine runs this team has scored came off of home run balls. However we’ve also seen the Orioles be more balanced at points this year – think of the first week of the season. Sometimes you also have to tip your cap to the pitching that’s out there opposing you. They have a large say in whether and how you score runs.

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Adam Jones, who of course has had some injury issues already this year, left last night’s game in the sixth inning with a stomach virus. That might come off as much more benign than a rib injury – and in general it is given that it’ll run it’s course. However especially at this time of year, you do worry about it making it’s way through the clubhouse and affecting multiple players. That seems to happen to a couple of clubs each April, and the Orioles hope this year it’s not them.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: Minor League Estate

The series continues tonight at Camden Yards. The Orioles will send Ubaldo Jimenez to the mound, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s R.A. Dickey. While Dickey has struggled this year thus far, you do worry about Oriole hitters going against him – they say that sometimes it can take up to a week to recover your timing after hitting a knuckleballer. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.