The Orioles attempt to win their first series in Toronto in fifty-seven years failed today, as poor starting pitching set the tone of the game and put the Orioles in a hole from which they couldn't climb out.
Brad Bergesen was given a 2-0 lead before he took the mound courtesy of first inning home runs by J.J. Hardy and Vladimir Guerrero. For Hardy, I say woo! For Vlad I say, sigh. I guess that'll buy him another month in the cleanup spot.
The lead didn't last long as Bergy gave up two runs of his own in the first inning. Yunel Escobar led off with a double, then Bergesen retired new Blue Jay Colby Rasmus on a pop up, but walked Jose Bautista. Adam Lind then reached on an error by Derrek Lee, who seems to have given up on being silky. Then, with the bases loaded and just one out, Bergesen walked in a run. Eric Thames followed that with a sacrifice fly and just like that, tie game.
The Blue Jays added four more runs in the third inning, two of which came from home runs. Guess that sinker wasn't sinking for Bergy. The other two runs scored on a double by J.P. Arencibia after Bergesen walked Aaron Hill and Travis Snider singled.
That put the Orioles in a 6-2 hole that felt insurmountable,and sure enough, it was. They did score two runs in the top of the fifth on a single by Adam Jones, but relief pitcher Mark Hendrickson gave them right back in the bottom of the inning (with a little held from Mark Reynolds on defense).
With the score 8-4 at the end of five innings, it was pretty obvious that the Orioles were sunk. Hardy added his second home run of the night (and 18th on the season) in the 9th. Stat padder. Hardy actually had three hits tonight, the third being a double. Maybe he should be batting cleanup.
For some mysterious reason, Buck Showalter decided to use both Koji Uehara and Jim Johnson in the losing effort. They were awesome because that's who they are (Koji's WHIP is down to 0.70), but it seemed like a waste, especially considering the Orioles have to play the Yankees four times in the next three days.
So that's it, O's lose 8-5.