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O's fall to Tigers, 5-1, as Verlander pitches a gem
STATS: By Inning | Box | Matchup | O's Stats | Tigers Stats
Adam Loewen injury update:
Loewen's pitching career over, will attempt comeback as position player [link]
Justin Verlander pitched a three-hitter over 8 2/3 as the Tigers beat the O's 5-1, handing Baltimore its 15th straight loss on a Sunday. Verlander improved to 4-0 in four July starts and 8-9 on the year.
The 25-year-old righty gave up an RBI double to Luke Scott in the second but at one point retired 16 straight Orioles.
Verlander is 6-0, 2.30 over his last eight starts. He threw 105 pitches, 65 for strikes.
Detroit gains a split of the four-game series and is 25-13 since June 7th.
The Orioles are now winless over their last six series, losing four with two ties. Baltimore is 7-13 over the last 20 games.
Losing pitcher Brian Burres, 7-6, gave up three runs and six hits over 5 1/3 innings. Orioles starters have worked to an ERA of 7.12 over the last 14 games.
The Tigers lead grew to four as they scored twice in the 8th on a Brandon Inge RBI groundout and Ryan Raburn RBI single. Those runs were charged to Lance Cormier.
Detroit scored twice in the 6th to take a 3-1 lead. Marcus Thames hit a solo homer to make it 2-1. His 19th of the year settled in near the foul pole down the left-field line. After an Inge double to left, a bloop single by Raburn made it 3-1.
Magglio Ordonez hit a solo homer to left with two outs in the third that tied the game, 1-1. He hit a 3-2 pitch 395 feet for his 13th homer.
The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the second. Aubrey Huff drew a leadoff walk and, with one out, scored on a Luke Scott double. That hit makes Scott 7-11 with 6 RBI in this series.
The Orioles begin a four-game series Monday night vs. Toronto with Radhames Liz (3-2, 7.57) facing the Jays Jesse Litsch (8-6, 4.16).
Det 5-10-0
Balt 1-3-0
Postgame Notes
Burres Tagged With Sixth Loss
Brian Burres, trying to build off a quality start his last time out, today had trouble getting the third out of an inning. Magglio Ordonez homered with two outs in the third for the Tigers first run. Burres was knocked out in a two-run sixth. His ERA for the year is 5.02 and he has recorded just one quality start over his last nine outings.
Final Notes
The Orioles fall to 1-15 with 15 straight Sunday losses. They have been outscored 85-46 on Sundays. The Major-League record for consecutive losses on a given day is 21, co held by the 1939 St. Louis Browns and 1890 Pittsburgh Innocents.
Curtis Granderson grounded into a 4-6-3 double play in the 8th, just the second time all year he has hit into a double play. He is the second hardest player in the AL to double up among those that have grounded into a double play (once every 147.5 at bats).
It's the sixth time this year the O's have been held to three hits in a game. The season-low is two hits vs. Kansas City on May 11th.......The O's were just 2-27 at bat vs. Verlander, who is 2-0 in three career starts vs. the Birds......First pitch temperature was 96 degrees.
In the first three games of the Detroit series, the O's had 40 hits, 8 homers and batted .354 as team. Today they got just three hits, went 3-28 at bat and went homerless. O's starters have an ERA of 7.12 over their last 14 games.
Adam Jones missed the game with an ankle injury and declined to talk with reporters after the game.
Luke Scott went 1-3 with an RBI double and in this series was 7-13 with three homers and 6 RBI. Melvin Mora went 0-3 today after going 6-12 with three homers and 7 RBI in the series first three games.
Quotable
Dave Trembley said
"Verlander pitched a great game. He threw all his pitches for strikes to both sides of the plate. He pitched a heckuva game, that's the whole day right there."
Jim Leyland said
"That's a big time pitcher coming up big for us when we needed it the most. That's a big-time performance. I was really impressed with those guys (the Orioles). They keep coming at you offensively. They play nine innings everyday, I was really impressed by the Orioles."
Steve Melewski's Live GameBlog From Camden Yards
He's Too Good
Verlander is two-hitting the O's through seven. Kevin Millar's double with two outs in the 7th ended his string of retiring 16 consecutive O's. But he struck out Luke Scott to end the frame. Verlander, who leads all AL pitchers in average pitches per game (108), has tossed 84 so far. He has one complete game this season, a 4-hitter June 11 vs. the White Sox.
Burres Out
The Tigers two-run sixth knocked Brian Burres out.
Burres today: 5 1/3IP, 6H, 3R-ER, 4BB, 5K, 2 HR......108 pitches.
His ERA after the outing is the same as it was at the start, 5.02. Meanwhile O's starters have pitched to an ERA of 7.12 (58 ER - 73 1/3 IP) over the last 14 games.
On the other side, Justin Verlander is dominating the Orioles with a one-hitter through six. He has thrown 68 pitches, 42 strikes. The O's are 1-19 at bat vs. him today and he has retired 14 in a row after six innings.
Thames for the Lead
The Tigers were lucky that one umpire over ruled another and Marcus Thames really DID hit a homer in the 6th, giving Detroit a 2-1 lead. Thames drive down the left-field line was first called foul, emphatically so, by 3B ump Brian Runge. Quickly the home plate ump Greg Gibson started walking toward Runge and told him the ball was fair. Replays show it was a home run.
Burres So Far
So far, so good. Holding the Tigers to one run through four. He has allowed three hits with three walks and four strikeouts. The off speed stuff looks pretty good. The downside is he needed 82 pitches to get four frames. Verlander threw just 33 through three.
On This Date in O's History
Ben McDonald pitched a one-hitter to beat Kansas City, 7-0 at Camden Yards. It happened on July 20, 1993. Gary Gaetti singled with two out in the 4th for the only hit. In 1994, McDonald threw a one-hitter at Milwaukee.
A Sunday Win ?
Game four of the O's and Tigers series is underway with the O's looking to break their 14-game Sunday losing streak. The O's have been outscored 80-45 on Sundays. Today's first pitch was at 1:35pm and it's 96 degrees. Check back during today's game for news and updates live from the Yard.
About Last Night
The O's 17 hits were a season-high along with the 8 hits in one inning, the third. Luke Scott's game-winning homer in the 10th was the first walk-off homer at Camden Yards since Kevin Millar beat Boston on August 12, 2007 with a three-run shot in the tenth. Melvin Mora has now homered in all three games of this series. The last Oriole to homer in three straight was Ramon Hernandez September 10-12, 2006.
Starting Lineups
Tigers
CF Curtis Granderson
C Ivan Rodriguez
DH Gary Sheffield
RF Magglio Ordonez
1B Miguel Cabrera
LF Marcus Thames
3B Brandon Inge
2B Ryan Raburn
SS Ramon Santiago
P Justin Verlander
Orioles
2B Brian Roberts
RF Nick Markakis
3B Melvin Mora
1B Aubrey Huff
DH Kevin Millar
LF Luke Scott
CF Jay Payton
C Guillermo Quiroz
SS Juan Castro
P Brian Burres
Adam Jones was a late scratch from the lineup. He injured his ankle when he hit the first base bag awkwardly in the second inning last night. Dave Trembley said there was swelling in that ankle today. He will know more about the extent of the injury tomorrow.
Trembley's Talk
In his pregame interview today, Dave Trembley talked about Juan Castro getting his first start today at short.
"He's here to play; we've got to get him in the lineup. He's a steady defender with experience. We have to be careful with Fahey, not to wear him down or out."
Trembley was told about Jim Leyland of the Tigers making positive comments this weekend about the Orioles and their play.
"What I hear from other managers in the league is they see a difference in how we play, and that's a credit to the players. It's common knowledge now that we play all 27 outs. Jim Leyland was very good to me when I managed in the Minors with the Pirates. I'll take that as a compliment to our club when it comes from someone like Jim Leyland."
Trembley talked in detail today about Dennis Sarfate's power arm, but his inconsistency at times.
"Sarfate has been rather inconsistent of late. I'm more concerned about mound presence and poise. To me, last night, he looked rattled. He needs to outgrow that and take the next step. He has a great arm, but the other things need to improve. He's a great kid that tries so hard, but he can be his own worst enemy. We can't find those kind of arms hanging out on the street corner. We have to be patient with him. Right now, he'll either pitch his way on or off this team. But we need him."
Trembley on Wieters
The O's manager today was asked if he checks the status of players in the minors, specifically Matt Wieters. He then talked at length about the O's number one prospect and last year's first-round pick.
"He has far surpassed our expectations of being able to adapt so quickly. Because the minor league lifestyle is a grind, I mean it's tough. I think the guy is going to be a quality regular catcher for the Orioles for a long time and it's going to be sooner than later.
"His defense is what we thought it was, but the thing that is most impressive is his ability to work with pitchers and call a game. He's far ahead of most guys that inexperienced in pro baseball. In big league spring training he jumped in there and caught the front-line guys. He didn't wait to catch the non-roster guys. The guys just got it, no question he's got it."
Trembley was asked if the club will call Wieters up in September.
"I think that's Andy MacPhail's call. There are a lot of considerations that go into that I'm just learning like service time, arbitration and things related to administrative decisions come into question."
Wieters has played 69 games this year with Frederick and 22 at Bowie. In the combined 91 games he is batting .345-18-50 with 14 doubles, 55 walks and 60 strikeouts. He went 0-3 Saturday night to snap a 17-game, Double-A, hitting streak.
Game Preview
Detroit (48-49) at Orioles (47-49)
After their thrilling walk-off win in 10 innings Saturday night, the Orioles have a chance today to win a series for the first time in over three weeks and snap their 14-game losing streak on Sundays.
The Tigers entered that game 41-1 when leading after 8 innings and the O's had been 3-38 when behind after 8 innings. It was the O's 29th comeback win of the year and snapped Baltimore's 9-game losing streak in one-run decisions.
The Orioles have 40 hits and a team average of .354 in this series with 10 doubles and 8 homers. Detroit has scored 20 runs with 6 homers in the series.
The O's have more wins in this series, two, than they had all last season vs. Detroit, when they went 1-5 in the season series.
The Tigers have lost 5 of 7 games and are 20-29 on the road and 6-9 in July.
The Orioles have lost four and tied one series since theiCk 2 of 3 from the Cubs, June 24-26.
Pitching Match-Up
LHP Brian Burres (7-5, 5.02) today makes his 16th start of the season, his 10th at home and the first of his career vs. Detroit.
Burres will look to build on his solid start last Friday in Boston, when he allowed three runs and six hits over 6 1/3. He picked up his 7th win and ended a seven-start run without a quality start.
Burres is 4-2 at home with an ERA of 6.02 in nine starts. His road ERA is 4.01. The Orioles are 8-7 in his 15 starts.
Left-handed batters hit .344 this season off Burres, while right-handed batters hit .279, and he works to an average of .284 with runners in scoring position.
Burres gives up an average of just .250 in the first innings of his starts, but that goes up to .405 in the second inning.
After pitching to an ERA of 7.27 in June, Burres is 1-0, 4.50 in two starts in July. In his career, he has pitched just 1/3 of an inning, without allowing a hit or run, vs. the Tigers.
RHP Justin Verlander (7-9, 4.15) today makes his 21st start of 2008, his 9th on the road and the third in his career against the Orioles.
Verlander has been pitching well for several weeks and has allowed exactly 2 ER in each of his last six starts. He has not taken a loss since June 6th vs. Cleveland and, in his past three starts, is 3-0, 2.70.
Verlander was 2-1, 2.73 in June and is 3-0, 2.70 in July. In eight road starts, he is 2-5, 4.86.
Last season, Verlander, the second pick in round one of the 2004 draft, went 18-6, 3.66.
Left-handed batters hit .242 vs. him, right-handed hitters bat .222, and he pitches to an ERA of .231 with runners in scoring position.
Last season Verlander made one start vs. the Birds, and despite pitching seven scoreless innings, did not get a decision. In his career, in two starts vs. Baltimore, he is 1-0, 2.02.
O's Hitters, this series vs. Detroit
Fahey: 3-10, 2B, RBI
Hernandez: 4-10, HR, 4 RBI
Huff: 5-14, HR, 2 RBI, 4 R
Jones: 3-12
Markakis: 3-11, 2B, 2 RBI
Millar: 5-15, 2 2B, RBI
Mora: 6-12, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R
Payton: 2-5
Roberts: 3-13, 3 2B, RBI
Scott: 6-10, 3 HR, 5 RBI
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