Baltimore Orioles: Miguel Gonzalez rebounds in 5-1 loss

The Baltimore Orioles fell to Boston 5-1, despite a rebound performance from Miguel Gonzalez.

Miguel Gonzalez didn’t pitch a perfect outing for the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon against Boston – far from it. However he atoned for his outing last week by pitching well in this afternoon’s game against Boston. Gonzalez’s line: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K.

The lone run charged to Gonzalez was on a home run in the first inning – hit by Boston’s Holt. That gave Boston an early 1-0 lead against an Orioles team that’s finding it increasingly difficult to score runs thus far this spring. However this can still be attributed to the fact that these hitters are behind opposing pitchers. Remember folks, this was only the Orioles’ fourth home game.

Gonzalez was very crisp other than the home run, and he reached his pitch limit after pitching two outs in the third inning. In the fourth inning Darren O’Day promptly loaded the bases in the fourth, however he was able to pitch out of the jam by inducing a double-play by Marrero. The Orioles scored in the last of the fourth in similar fashion; rule 5 draft pick Joey Rickard grounded out to first with Hardy on third, cutting the Boston lead to 2-1.

Southside Showdown

Boston would re-notch their two-run lead in the sixth on a Butler RBI-ground out, and then would extend the lead to 4-1 with an RBI-double by Boesch in the sixth. Boston would add an RBI-single off the bat of Thayer in the ninth. I suppose that if there’s one big concern coming out of this game it might be the fact that the Orioles couldn’t muster anything with runners in scoring position. The Birds went 1-for -12 with RISP this afternoon. That’s not going to get the job done.

Incidentally, that one hit with a runner in scoring position didn’t score a run for the Birds. That harkens back to last season, which saw that type of statistical oddity happen to the Birds quite often. The Orioles hit some balls hard this afternoon, they just always seemed to find Boston gloves.

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So should fans start to worry about the fact that the O’s haven’t won a game yet? I would say that from a skill standpoint there’s nothing to worry about. The likes of Jones, Davis, Machado, etc. aren’t suddenly going to turn into .220 hitters with no power. Not going to happen. So in that sense Orioles fans should put their minds at ease. However you have to hope that the idea of “losing” doesn’t start to spread throughout the clubhouse. I think that there’s too much leadership on this team for that to happen, however it’s something that the O’s need to ensure doesn’t happen – especially over games that literally don’t count.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: Seeing the devil in the clause

The Orioles will travel to Clearwater tomorrow to take on the Philadelphia Phillies. Yovani Gallardo will make his debut on the mound for the Orioles. For what it’s worth, it’ll be interesting to see if Showalter brings any number of veterans with him so as to help break Gallardo into how the Orioles do things. We’ll see, I suppose.