The Orioles lose the final game of the 4 game series with the Red Sox up in Boston. The Red Sox took an early lead in the first inning by scoring one run. But the Orioles struck back in the next inning. It wasn't until the fourth inning that Boston would take the lead again. The Orioles would comeback again in the sixth to tie the game up at 3-3, and the scored stayed that way until the 9th inning.
With both starting pitchers, rookie Hayden Penn and Matt Clement, only allowing 3 runs a piece and not pitching past the 6th inning. It was up to both teams' relievers to win the game. For the Orioles, they threw out John Parrish, Steve Reed, Steve Kline, Todd Williams, and Jorge Julio in 3.2 innings. They all pitched scoreless baseball (Steve Kline didn't record an out, but didn't allow a run either). The Orioles finally took the lead in the top of the 9th inning when Raffy Palmeiro beat out a double play with the bases loaded to score David Newhan. The O's had a one run lead (4-3) going into the bottom of the 9th inning.
Enter B.J. Ryan. Mr Automatic (Ryan) made the big error in the 9th inning by throwing a fast ball down the middle of the plate to David Ortiz in a 3-2 count. Ortiz launched it to straight away center field. This homer happened with 2 outs and 2 runners on base. He should have just walked him by trying to make Ortiz chase a ball outside of the strike zone. But I can't get to mad, this blown save was only the 2nd given up by Ryan this year. Unlike Julio over the last couple of years, Ryan is pretty automatic once he enters the game. Everyone is going to make mistakes. This one just happened to be huge.
In the end, the Orioles are no worse in the standing than when the entered this series against Boston. Boston was within 3 games of the Orioles, and Sox still are now. The one benifit is that the Yankees have been losing to the Royals, the worse team in MLB, and can't get closer than 4 games behind the O's.
Next up for the O's are the Detroit Tigers. They play tomarrow at 7:05, and the O's are seeking revenge after three in a row at home against the Tigers.
Posted by helimech24 at June 2, 2005 05:47 PM | TrackBack