Do you know what September 16, 2009 and April 10, 2007 have in common? They are the only two games in Carl Crawford's career in which he was thrown out stealing twice. Twice tonight Crawford got on base, twice he tried to steal second, and twice Matt Wieters gunned him down. In fact, neither of the plays were particularly close as both times Crawford slid right into Brian Roberts' glove. In a game where the offense was dead for both teams, those plays were huge.
I was checking Crawford's game logs tonight after he got thrown out twice and saw that before tonight he's been thrown out twice in a span of 24 games. And do you know who threw him out one of those times as well? That's right, our savior.
Chris Tillman pitched a very good game today, going 6.2 innings and allowing 1 run on a solo HR by ZAUN. He didn't strike anyone out, which was weird, but he was effective all the same. He retired the first 10 batters he faced and ended up giving up just 5 hits. I suppose now we sit around and wait to hear if Tillman will be joining Matusz in being shut down for the year.
The Orioles scored their first run of the game in the 2nd inning. Melvin Mora led off the inning with a double, moved to third on a fly ball by Luke Scott, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Wieters. Their second run came in the 4th. Brian Roberts hit a sharp ground ball to first that Willy Aybar couldn't handle. Two outs later, Luke knocked Brian in with a shot off the top of the scoreboard. That was all the offense the Orioles would muster until the bottom of the 9th.
Of course, it's a shame the O's even had to go to the bottom of the 9th. They took a 2-1 lead into the top of the 9th (after a rain delay of over an hour) and Jim Johnson continued to look like garbage. Ben Zobrist took him deep to center field to tie the game at 2. Thanks for nothing, Jim.
While I may have a hard time forgiving Jim's transgressions, Matt Wieters is compassionate and loves unconditionally. Matt Wieters doesn't blame Jim Johnson for his faults because he's just a human. Matt Wieters saved Jim Johnson from doom when, in the bottom of the 9th, he hit his first career walk off HR. It wasn't as beautiful as his home run last night, but ten times as important.
Thank you, Matt Wieters, for the blessings you have bestowed upon us.