Lord have mercy. The Orioles have won two straight. Break 'em up. This one was essentially over before it started with the O's batting around in the first. They put up four runs and one more for good measure with the continuation of the starting pitcher hit parade. Jake Arrieta jetered a pitch in to shallow right field for the fourth hit by Orioles pitchers in the last week. J.J. Hardy started the inning with a single and ended it on a strikeout. Felix Pie would be the only starter without a hit this evening going 0-5 with a strikeout. In between, Nick Markakis doubled, Mark Reynolds walked and a bunch of guys pecked Charlie Morton to death with singles.
The scoring continued in the second when Matt Wieters drove in Nick Markakis on a well-struck double and Mark Reynolds plated Derrek Lee on a sac fly. The Pirates bullpen more or less restored order after the exit of the beleaguered Morton. Daniel "The Un-Wieters" Moskos allowed three hits over an otherwise quiet two innings and Daniel McCutchen also logged three innings.
Overall, Arrieta didn't look all that impressive on the mound, but nonetheless notched his 9th victory. He had trouble putting guys away and although he only walked a couple and allowed three hits, it took him 87 pitches to get through 5 innings. The Kevin Gregg and Mike Gonzalez low leverage rehabilitation projects continued and Berken was perfect over two innings, striking out three.
Ah, the NL.