The Baltimore Orioles dropped their second straight series on the road, losing two of three to one of their division rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays, at Tropicana Field.
After losing two of three to the World Champion Kansas City Royals, the O’s finished their six game road trip going 2-4.
As the saying goes, ‘good pitching beats good hitting’ and it did in this series as both teams struggled to score and combined for only 10 runs in three games.
Starter Chris Tillman pitched a great game as the Orioles avoided a sweep and won the final game of the Tampa series, 3-1.
Tillman was nearly unhittable and pitched perhaps his best game of the year when his team desperately needed it. He struck out a career-best tying nine, allowed two hits and walked two in 6.2 innings of work.
His only trouble came in the fourth inning. With men on second and third, he struck out the next batter and the following Ray’s batter popped out to catcher Matt Wieters to end the threat.
Meanwhile, the bullpen of Darren O’Day, Brad Brach and closer Zach Britton preserved the much-needed victory. The O’s were one out away from their first shutout of the season.
Former Oriole Steve Pearce cracked and RBI single to spoil the shutout. Britton got the final out of the inning and earned his fifth save of the season.
The offense, which really struggled in this series, was supplied by rookie Joey Rickard. After a walk and a single he smacked a three-run homer into the left field stands to give his team a 3-0 lead.
It was the Birds first homer in 155 plate appearances and 38 innings. The bats went cold in the final game of the KC series, a 6-1 loss and the first two games of the Tampa series a 3-1 loss and their first shutout of the season, a 2-0 loss in the first game of the series.
Ray’s pitcher Chris Archer was responsible for the shutout as he struck out 10 Baltimore batters. He allowed five hits and no walks in 6.2 innings of work.
In the middle game of the series the Baltimore bats were silenced by Tampa pitcher Jake Odorizzi. He allowed seven hits, one run, while issuing one free pass and striking out one in five innings of work.
The Oriole’s starter, Ubaldo Jimenez (1-2, 3.91 ERA) was undone by one bad pitch which led to a two-run homer in the sixth inning and the difference in the game. He allowed six hits, struck out six while giving up three runs and surrendering three walks in six innings of work.
Fortunately for the Orioles, no other team in the A.L. East division has gotten hot, and despite the rough road trip they have a record of (12-8) thanks to a record-setting 7-0 start and are still leading the division with the Rays in third place with a record of (10-13).
