Baltimore Orioles, Yovani Gallardo bounce back

Yovani Gallardo won his first start after returning, and the Baltimore Orioles defeated Toronto, 4-2.

In his return to the Baltimore Orioles from the DL, Yovani Gallardo provided the Birds with exactly the type of start for which they were looking. Granted he didn’t go deep into the game, however he set the table and the tone for the Birds by how he pitched. Gallardo’s line: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 5 K.

Manny Machado‘s RBI-double in the last of the first set the tone for the day, as the O’s took an early 1-0 lead. Machado would later score on a passed ball, and the BIrds were ahead 2-0. And righr there shows why it’s important to get guys on base. The fact is that you just never know what’s going to happen that could lead to that runner scoring.

Toronto’s Carrera would smack a solo homer off of Gallardo in the third inning, cutting the Orioles’ lead to 2-1. However a Schoop homer in the last of the inning would give them a two-run lead once again. The Birds always had an answer for Toronto in this game, which was a stark difference from the game on Friday night.

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Toronto’s Travis would add an RBI-double in the fourth, and the Orioles would net a fourth run in the last of the eighth when Schoop scored on a Trumbo force out. And there’s your ballgame, as the Orioles evened the series at one game a piece. This sets up a rubber match tomorrow between the two teams in the series.

The Orioles also announced after the game that Manny Machado would be dropping his appeal of the four-game suspension in the wake of charging the mound on Kansas City’s Ventura. Machado will thus sit starting today, and he’ll be back in the Orioles’ lineup on Friday when Tampa comes to town. That is unless MLB decides to actually add on games to his penalty, which yes I recognize can’t happen…!

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Ventura’s agent negotiated his suspension being reduced to eight games, however apparently MLB wasn’t willing to budge on Machado’s four. Given that Ventura caused the problem, it was kind of an interesting way to handle the situation. After the game, Machado addressed this point with the media (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

"I think MLB thought it was fair what they gave me. I don’t think we were going to get it down. It is their opinion against mine. I think we had a good case, but they were pretty strong on the four games.It’s not right he will miss one start and I’ll miss four games. Think I’m more valuable as a player for my teammates than he is as a starter and he’s going only to miss one (start) for the incident he did. This whole problem started with him. Why do I get four and he gets one? That is up to MLB to figure out."

I do find it incredibly fascinating that the guy who simply reacted got his suspension reduced. However the guy who caused the problem in the first place had his held firm. Does that make sense? Not to me. But that’s something that should be taken up with MLB.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: End of the line for Mike Wright

The series concludes this afternoon at Camden Yards. Chris TIllman will be on the mound for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Marcus Stroman. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.