I know it's just the first ST start, but it's kinda funny given all of the "that's what a #1 goes out and does" talk that has been shoved down our throats this spring. In case you missed it, Millwood's line today: 0.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 HR. His ERA is a shiny 81.00.
The O's fell to the Tigers today 9-5, unable to recover from the hole Millwood put them in in the first inning. His one home run, by the way, was to The Clete Thomas who continues to screw the Orioles every chance he gets.
Matt Albers, Dennis Sarfate, Cla Meredith, Frank Mata, and Alberto Castillo all pitched well as they combined for zero runs on 4 hits over 6.1 innings. Albers in particular was effective as he relieved Millwood and pitched 2.1 innings, the longest outing for an Oriole pitcher yet.
Brandon Erbe didn't have the same success as the others who pitched in relief. He gave up 3 ER on 3 hits, including a home run to Casper Wells. Casper is a pretty cool name, though.
The Orioles offense was quiet for the most part until the 9th inning. Ty Wigginton hit a solo HR off of Justin Verlander in the 2nd inning. It was the only hit Verlander allowed in his 3 innings. Even after the Tigers' ace left the game the O's continued to flounder until some dude named Jay Sborz came on to pitch the 9th. Poor Sborz faced five guys and didn't retire one. A leadoff walk to Jonathan Tucker set up a two run HR by Rhyne Hughes, his third of the spring. After a single by Jeff Salazar and walks to Craig Tatum and Pedro Florimon, the Tigers had seen enough of ol' Sborz. His replacement allowed two RBI ground outs charged to Sad Sack Sborz but it was too little too late for the O's.
Tomorrow the Red Sox travel to Sarasota to face the O's for the first time. Jeremy Guthrie will get his second spring start. Also scheduled to pitch are Mark Hendrickson, Kam Mickolio, David Hernandez, and Will Ohman. Clay Buchholz will start for the Red Sox, followed by Casey Kelly, Boof Bonser, and Daniel Bard. The game will be televised on MASN (yay!) so we'll get our first live look at both the O's and Ed Smith Stadium. Game time is 1:05 p.m.