The Orioles used seven pitchers today. Four of them turned in scoreless outings, and the other three kinda stunk. But hey, it's Spring Training! That means when they play well we can be all, "Woo hoo!" and when they stink we can say, "It's just Spring Training after all."
Jake Arrieta made the start for the Orioles and he was one of the stinkers. He had a perfect first inning, striking out two (one swinging). The second inning wasn't so pretty. Three straight singles loaded the bases with no outs, and a double by Clint Barmes scored two. Arrieta almost got out of it, striking out the next two batters, but a single by Alex Presley knocked in two more. Presley tried to stretch his hit to a double and was thrown out by right fielder Endy Chavez.
Arrieta started the third inning and got two quick ground outs, but with 44 pitches, Buck Showalter pulled him. The good news is that he didn't walk anyone, which is generally a problem for him. He struck out four and bounced back from his rough inning. If this was a real game who knows what he would have done for several more innings.
After Zach Phillips pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, Jim Johnson made his first appearance of the spring. JJ has been struggling with a sore back, and while I don't know how he's feeling, his pitching certainly wasn't good. Three singles, a double, and a sac fly led to three more runs for the Pirates.
Matt Lindstrom threw a perfect sixth inning with two strikeouts, then Willie Eyre came in and gave up four more runs in 0.2 innings. Do we really care about Willie Eyre? I don't think I do. Casey Fossum and Pedro Strop closed out the game with a combined 2.1 scoreless innings.
On the offensive side of things, the O's scored a run in the first on J.J. Hardy's first spring home run, and three more in the second inning. After Mark Reynolds homered, Nolan Reimold showed that he's not feeling too many ill effects of his HBP the other day with a double. Robert Andino walked, and Chavez knocked in both runners. Their final run came in the third inning when Adam Jones, who walked and moved to third on a Nick Johnson double, scored on a ground out.
From the fourth through the eighth innings, the Orioles had exactly two base runners. Nick Markakis, in his first game this spring, walked in the fifth, and Hardy walked in the seventh. The replacement players made some noise in the ninth, but couldn't add on any runs.
The Orioles go on the road tomorrow to play the Tigers in a game that will not be broadcast.