Baltimore Orioles: Almost spring training magic

The Baltimore Orioles got another semi-positive start from Mike Wright but fell to Boston 8-7.

Admittedly I didn’t foresee the Baltimore Orioles starting Grapefruit League play at 0-6-1. However with this afternoon’s 8-7 loss to Boston in Fort Myers, that’s exactly where how they’ve started out. But once again folks, keep in mind that the starters have played in all of two games – and that doesn’t include today’s game.

Mike Wright made his second start this spring, and pitched fairly well despite

Courtesy of Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /

giving up two runs. Wright’s line: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K. The O’s got things going right off the bat as Christian Walker sent a two-RBI double to left field which gave the O’s an early lead in the first. L.J. Hoes would add an RBI-single to left later in the inning, and the O’s led 3-0.

Boston would start to immediately chip away however. a Ramirez RBI-double in the last of the first would cut the Orioles’ lead to 3-1. But the Orioes, the “starters” that is, weren’t going to let the lead go that early. Nolan Reimold drew a bases loaded walk, which extended the lead to 4-1. Boston would add an RBI-double in the last of the second, at which point the O’s held a 4-2 lead.

Xander Bogaerts would cut the lead to 4-3 in the last of the fourth with an RBI-single, and a Dominguez RBI-single an inning later would tie it up. However Boston managed to take the lead in the last of the sixth inning on a Shaw RBI-single, after which Travis would add a sac fly-RBI to give Boston a 6-4 lead.

Orioles’ prospect Trey Mancini would ground into a fielder’s choice-RBI in the top of the seventh to cut the lead to 6-5. However in the last of the eighth Boston would put two more runs across, at which point it appeared to be just a matter of recording outs and playing out the rest of the game. But we weren’t done quite yet.

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The Orioles’ prospect Rosa would send a fly ball to right field in the top of the ninth with two outs, which ended up dropping in. It appeared that the Boston outfielders lost the ball in the sun, and two runs ended up scoring. For a moment, the Orioles had a shot to win the game with the go-ahead run on base. However Boston would quickly close the door, and the O’s fell once again.

I know that there are some folks who are anxious at the fact that the Birds haven’t won a game yet. And in no way am I suggesting that this is how Buck Showalter drew things up. However as cliche and as repetitive as it sounds, keep in mind that in most of the games we haven’t seen the likes of Jones, Davis, Schoop, and Machado getting beaten. It’s obviously happened (twice), but most of these games aren’t featuring the regular players. That has to be taken into account.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: A mixed bag of results

The Orioles will take on Minnesota tomorrow in Sarasota, with Ubaldo Jimenez making his second start of the spring. They also announced that Yovani Gallardo will make his debut in Clearwater against Philadelphia on Wednesday. Chris Tillman will do the same in a “B game” on the backfields of Sarasota on Thursday morning against a squad of players from the Pittsburgh organization. (Of note: stats in B games where no admission is charged don’t count toards spring training stats or records. It’s effectively an exhibition game within the exhibition season.)

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