This has to be the most embarrassing week of Orioles baseball in years, possibly ever. On Monday, the O's blew a six-run lead and the Red Sox walked off against Kevin Gregg with two runs in the ninth. On Wednesday, they wasted another fantastic start by Zach Britton, were dominated by Bartolo Colon, had their last pitcher in the bullpen thrown out for headhunting, and had to bring Jeremy Guthrie in to end the game. On Thursday, the Yankees dropped eight runs on Brad Bergesen in 3.1 innings and ultimately scored thirteen as CC Sabathia shut down the offense.
But today would be different, right? The Nationals aren't good. They're not the Red Sox or Yankees. The Nats offense is worse than the Orioles (and that is saying something). They'd been shut out by the Mets in their last two games and like the Orioles sit in last place in their division. Jake Arrieta was on the mound for the Orioles and had been putting together an impressive season, seemingly getting better with each start.
Today was not different. In fact, it was worse, because the Nationals aren't supposed to be able to do this. They dropped seventeen runs on the Orioles in nine innings. That is not a typo. Coming into tonight, the Nationals had scored seventeen runs in their last five games combined.
Arrieta just wasn't on his game tonight. He was taken out of the game after just 3.2 innings, having thrown ninety-one pitches and given up six runs. He was replaced by Jason Berken, who was even worse. Berken only retired three batters and also gave up six runs. He allowed five hits, including two home runs, and he hit a batter with the bases loaded. Following Berken was Clay Rapada (1.1 IP, 1 R), Mike Gonzalez (2 IP, 2 H, both home runs), and Kevin Gregg (1 IP, 4 H, 2 R).
The Nationals, who came into the game with thirty-two home runs on the season, hit six tonight. Every pitcher was terrible. I don't even know what else to say about it.
The Orioles knocked Jason Marquis out of the game after just four innings, scoring three runs in the third and two in the fourth. In the third, Markakis and Vlad singled with two outs ahead of Matt Wieters, who doubled them both in. Wieters then scored on a single by Luke Scott to tie the game at three.
They might have been able to score more in the fourth but Felix Pie made a colossal blunder on the basepaths. After Mark Reynolds walked and Ryan Adams singled (his first major league hit! Congrats, Ryan), Pie hit a double to center field. Reynolds scored the first run of the game and Adams was held at third by the coach. Pie just wasn't paying attention and kept running. When he got to third, surprise! Adams was standing there, and Pie was tagged out. Oh, Felix. Adams then scored on a sacrifice fly by Adam Jones, but that was all the O's would get for the rest of the game.
After Marquis came out of the game, the Nats bullpen shut down the Orioles for the final five innings. They gave up only four hits and didn't walk anyone. While the Nats offense continued to pour on the runs, the O's offense rolled over.
What a disgusting, terrible game. What a horrible week of Orioles baseball.