Baltimore Orioles lose late lead, fall to St. Louis

The Baltimore Orioles snapped their four-game winning streak yesterday, falling in the later innings to St. Louis by the score of 8-6. Bud Norris got the start yesterday, although he had some struggles – mainly with walks. Norris’ line:  4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 5 K. For one of the first times this spring, we saw an Oriole starter strugle with walks, which got Norris into trouble early in the game. St. Louis loaded the bases in the first inning, but Norris pitched out of it unscathed.

The O’s took a 1-0 lead in the last of the first on a Manny Machado homer, although a half inning later it was tied on John Jay’s RBI-groundout. Norris would give up a two-run homer to Matt Adams in the third, which followed a Jhonny Peralta walk. And as former Oriole and MASNsports analyst Rick Dempsey often says, “…nothing good ever happens after a walk.” 

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Norris told Roch Kubatko of MASNsports to following after the game about his outing:

I was really trying to find a rhythm and a flow and a routine and it’s kind of hard sometimes, first pitch of the game, but (Steve) Clevenger was great in the ‘pen and we had a really good plan going in and he called a great game. Just trying to really build on my rhythm and that momentum.

Courtesy of Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

However Adam Jones put the O’s right back into the game in the last of the fourth with a solo homer. The teams traded RBI (the Orioles’ coming off of a Manny Machado double) in the fifth, and later in that last of the fifth inning Jones would smack his second home run of the game to put the Birds ahead 6-4.

JP Arencibia committed a throwing error in the eighth, and Jacob Wilson‘s subsequent RBI-single cut the lead to 6-5. Chaz Roe would then proceed to allow three runs in relief – two of which came off of a two-run homer.

So it goes as a loss for the O’s, and it breaks a four-game winning streak. However for those fans who care about wins and losses in the spring, you can take solace in the fact that the Orioles had the lead when the regulars started syphoning out of the game. Furthermore, with the backup catcher position now up for grabs (at least preliminarily) that error at a clutch moment in the game could come back to haunt JP Arencibia. It’s a shame for him if so, however that’s part of why these Grapefruit League games are played.

The Orioles also got the results of Hunter Harvey‘s CT scan after he was hit with a comebacker on Saturday. Harvey has a slightly torn fibula, which will keep him on crutches for a month. It will probably be six weeks or so prior to Harvey being able to play in games.

Today is the Orioles’ lone scheduled off day in spring training. The Ed Smith Stadium complex will actually be closed to personnel all day. This probably comes at a good time, as players can probably use a breather at this point in the spring. It allows them to re-charge themselves a bit, and return on Tuesday much fresher for what amounts to the spring’s “stretch run” (if such a thing exists).

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