Guthrie goes deep in loss; Team goals remain lofty
Jeremy Guthrie did everything pitching coach Rick Kranitz asked of him last night. In search of his first win on the year, Guthrie use his fastball effective and pitched into the 8th inning. He entered the inning responsible for just 1ER.
No Orioles starter to date had made it that far into the game.
A big reason he was able to pitch deep into the game was; he kept his pitch count down in the first two innings. Guthrie threw only 9-pitches in the 1st inning and that was key in saving his arm for the rest of the game.
The 8th inning, however, was were Guthrie made some pitches he'd probably love to have back. He gave up a lead-off double to Yuniesky Betancourt. Then with 2-outs he intentionally walked Raul Ibanez to face Adrian Beltre who was 0-12 against Guthrie, but Jeremy walked Beltre, and then Jose Vidro delivered the big blow with a 2-out, 2-RBI single.
That was the end of the night for Guthrie. It was a tough ending to what had been a solid performance
That being said, Felix Hernandez was effective but not as dominant against the Birds last night as he was at the Yard 2-weeks ago. The Orioles' hitters were very patient at the plate and wore Hernandez down a bit in the first two innings as they forced him to throw 52-pitches in the 1st and 2nd combined.
The problem was the Birds couldn't finish. The were able to get runners on base early but left 5-runners on base in the 1st 2-innings.
Still the Birds continue to fight. Kevin Millar made it clear on the flight to Seattle, the Birds have their eyes on the World Series. If that's the case, they can start chasing that goal by taking Game 2 tonight in Seattle. One step at a time.
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