Last night against the New York Yankees the Orioles managed only 1 hit and no runs. They made up for that in a big way today by just killing the Pirates pitchers with twenty hits and thirteen runs. The pitching had a better day as well, giving up just two earned runs, both by relief pitcher Jeremy Accardo.
The offense was led by Matt Wieters, who slugged four hits including two doubles. Jake Fox had a two HR day as my hopes of ever seeing a tater from Tatum continue to slip away. Nolan Reimold and Brandon Snyder also had good days with two hits and a walk each, and Robert Andino had a double and a single. In fact every starter had at least one hit today as Pirates starter Ross Ohlendorf was knocked around for six runs on eight hits in three innings.
Chris Tillman had a good, but not great, day. He allowed an unearned run after an error by J.J. Hardy, but he walked three in four innings and only struck out two. He was followed by Accardo, who gave up two runs in just two-thirds of an inning. Accardo was relieved by Chris George, who continues to have a good spring. George pitched one and a third perfect innings with three strikeouts. Josh Rupe closed out the game with three innings to earn the save. Gotta love a save in a 13-3 game.
The O's defense was again shaky. In addition to Hardy's throwing error, Josh Bell committed one and would have had another if not for a good play by Brandon Snyder at first base to save him. Jake Fox also committed interference behind the plate allowing a runner to reach. I guess the silver lining is that only Hardy will be in the regular lineup.
The 13-3 win by the O's evens their spring record at 9-9-2. They're back in action tomorrow night, at home against the Twins. More importantly, tomorrow is just two weeks from Opening Day.