Orioles offense continues to struggle as they lose the White Sox, 1-0

For a while there it looked like Ubaldo Jimenez was not going to have a good night. His pitch count was high early on, there were some early walks...things weren't looking good. But he settled into the game and ended up going seven innings, with the lone run he gave up coming off a solo home run by Jose Abreu in the third. The White Sox got six other hits and two walks but didn't score any other runs. It's too bad the offense got shutout again.

Coming into the game, White Sox starter John Danks had lost four straight games and was having a bad season. What's more, right-handers had been hitting off him very well. Buck loaded the lineup with right-handers, even letting Matt Wieters DH, I think making it the first time he played two consecutive games since coming off the DL. I suppose this was the right move, even though Wieters and Paredes are switch hitters, Wieters hits better from the right side. With other guys like Pearce and Reimold getting in there, this really seemed like the kind of game the Orioles should have driven up the score. That did not happen.

The O's had chances though. In the top of the fifth inning, Chris Davis and J.J. Hardy got on for Steve Pearce. But Pearce grounded into a double play at second and third, letting him get on first with two outs. Joseph would get out to end the inning. In the top of the seventh, Hardy and Pearce would get on with one out, then advance to second and third on a wild pitch. Caleb Joseph came up, but couldn't get the fly ball that would have allowed Hardy to get home and tie the game. Ryan Flaherty would fly out to end the inning. The Orioles had two more innings, but wouldn't get another baserunner.

The defense even played really well. J.J. Hardy somehow missed a piece of a broken bat flying toward him to field the ball Flowers hit and get him out. In the bottom of the third, Davis would miss a fly ball by Garcia, but Jones picked it up and caught Garcia in a rundown between first and second to get him out. In the bottom of the eigth with one and out and one man on, Adam LaRoche hit a liner right into Brach's glove, who threw back to first to get Cabrera out, who had been trying for the steal before the pitch. Again, a good game defensively behind s strong start by Jimenez.

This is two games in a row the Orioles have been shutout, the first time that's happened all season. I'm not even sure it happened in all of 2014. No doubt its because of missed opportunities. This time last week the Orioles were one of the best teams in baseball with getting hits with runners in scoring position. They've now failed to do it three games in a row, and only had one hit w/RISP in the two games before that. Its weird how this seems to keep happening...the offense and the pitching cannot seem to play well at the same time.

The Orioles get Jeff Samardzija tomorrow afternoon and then (due to very recent change for some reason) they'll see Carlos Rodon on Sunday instead of Chris Sale. Rodon is another lefty, so I think the O's have a good chance against him. This series can still be won, but you can't win anything if you're not scoring runs. I can't imagine a world in which the Orioles get shutout three games in a row, but I guess you never know.