Ladies and Gentleman, I give you a WIN! They tried their hardest to lose it, but we did it folks. To celebrate I have written a bonus recap, after the jump, you should also read the recap below, written by Eat More Esskay. This post here however is a short recap of Minor League happenings, mostly regarding high profile players.
AAA (Norfolk) -- Norfolk took out a whooping on Toledo today, winning 10-3. Former "prospect" Troy Patton went 5 innings giving up 1 earned run (3 total), he is 5-7 with a 4.74 ERA. Armando Gabino pitched 3 shutout innings lowering his ERA to 2.45, AAA hitters are hitting just .220 against him, perhaps his time is near. Lastly Cla Meredith pitched a scoreless inning, "lowering" his ERA to 13.50.
Josh Bell hit his 8th long ball, he has a .266 AVG, Nolan Riemold hit a double and was 2-4, he is now hitting .217Jeff Salazar hit 2 homers and drove in 4.
This guy was 1-5.
AA (Bowie) -- Zach Britton pitched 6 scoreless, lowering his ERA to 2.62. Our old buddy Jim Hoey pitched 1 scoreless, his ERA is 2.45. 23 year old Ryan Adams had 2 RBI and Caleb Joseph went hitless.
A (Frederick) -- Xaiver Avery (.296, 3 HR, 32 RBI, 16 SB) was 3-5 with a double and a RBI. Billy Rowell (hasn't hit .300 in the minors since '06) was 1-5. Ryan Berry, 21 out of Rice, went 5 scoreless. He has a 2.17 ERA.
Info via MiLB.com.
Hit the jump for a bonus recap.
This game started out, how do you say, terrible? The O's came out and thanks to an error by our old friend Jerry Hairston Jr., Nick Markakis was able to get a sacrifice fly and drive in Julio Lugo. Then Millwood came out in the bottom of the inning and retired the first two hitters. Then he walked Gonzalez, walks will always hurt you. Gave up two singles to load the bases. He would give up a bases loaded walk to "Will Venable" followed by a two run single and finally a strikeout. Millwood would settle down after that, giving up no more walks, giving up four more hits, striking out four more, and giving up no more runs, while finishing six innings of work and earning his very first win. He must be overjoyed.
The Orioles would need to work back from a two run deficit. In the third, doubles by Lugo and Markakis would result in a run and a single by Luke Scott would tie the game. Then in the 6th, Adam Jones hit a shot out of the park, a laser beam of sorts. That was exciting. That would finish out the scoring for the day. Jones was 2-4 and nearly had a 3rd RBI, but Corey Patterson was thrown out at home.
Jason Berken pitched a good 8th inning, handing the ball off to Alfredo Simon. That is when things got dicey. Simon walked the first batter and then gave up a double, instantly making it seem like he would give it up. Our old friend Oscar Salazar pinch hit for the pitcher and grounded out, scoring one and moving the tying run to third. Simon got Eckstein to ground out and finally he struck out Chase Headly, who had nearly knocked a double down the line. Simon got his 7th save with a 3.60 ERA.
It was close, but thanks to the Orioles offense getting the job done against another tough opponent, the Orioles won their 19th game, only 30 games under .500 now! Oh yeah, and tomorrow is JAKE ARRIETA DAY!
Special shout out to our very own birdman and zknower, who were at the game. Just remember, pics or it didn't happen.