After going through a four-start stretch where he gave up just three runs, Zach Britton gave up five runs in his last start Sunday against the Yankees. He looks to bounce back from that outing tonight at Oakland.
In his four starts before that one, Britton won a career-high four straight games, going 4-0 with an ERA of 0.95. Over 28 2/3 innings, he gave up 21 hits with seven walks and 29 strikeouts.
But he lasted just 3 1/3 innings versus New York, allowing five hits, five walks and five runs...
Well, that was a rarity. An Orioles one-run loss. With it goes a chance for the Birds to move into sole possession of first place in the AL East after the Yankees loss earlier Friday night proceeded the O's 3-2 loss at Oakland.
That was just the Orioles second one-run loss in their last 18 one-run games and they fall to 27-8 on the season in the one-run contests.
It was a frustrating night for an O's offense that had scored 66 runs in the previous 11 games. In six of nine innings they got...
The Orioles' instructional league is under way at the team's spring training home in Sarasota, Fla. There are 59 players listed on the instructional league roster, with 31 pitches, five catchers, eight infielders, eight outfielders and seven players taking part in rehab.
Here is the complete O's instructional league roster:
Pitchers: Wilmer Aquino, Tim Berry, Parker Bridwell, Dylan Bundy, Miguel Chalas, Zach Davies, Dioni Dominguez, Gene Escat, Miguel Garcia, Kevin Gausman, Kevin Grendell,...
Here are some notes on several Orioles hitters as the club begins this big three-game, weekend series at Oakland.
* Robert Andino: Is 2-for-18 over his last five games and is 5-for-11 vs. Oakland.
* Chris Davis: Over his past 18 games, he's batting .323 (21-for-65) with seven homers and 12 RBIs. He is 10-for-21 (.476) this year with two homers and six RBIs vs. Oakland.
* Lew Ford: Has three homers over his last 29 at-bats.
* J.J. Hardy: In the last 10 games, he is batting .333 (14-for-42)...
Is it time for the Orioles to Buck a trend (pun intended) against Oakland?
It is not like the A's have been a juggernaut over the years but they have won a lot of games against the Orioles. The O's went 4-5 vs. Oakland last year and they have not won the season series since 1998, going 8-3.
The Orioles are 2-14 at Oakland since 2008 and went 1-5 there last year. Also, the Orioles have lost 25 of their last 36 vs. Oakland and are just 38-80 against Oakland since 1999.
That is a lot of...
Are the struggles of Orioles reliever Pedro Strop now a thing of the past? He thinks they may be.
Strop put together back-to-back scoreless innings against Tampa Bay on Tuesday and Wednesday, and thinks he may now be back on track. Strop said he made a slight mechanical adjustment, said he is mentally tough and thinks the combination of the two will help to keep him pitching well.
"For some reason, I was struggling with my command a little bit. But you cannot let that take you out of your...
I think all Orioles fans that have suffered through 14 losing seasons should take a minute or two at least to savor today's win. It seemed almost as if it took 14 years, but the Orioles now officially will not have a losing record in 2012. They'll have one much better than last year, the year before that and that and so on.
The sweep of Tampa was big for so many reasons, but for a key one, the O's have distanced themselves now by four games from the Rays, and it would have been just two...
After the Orioles' pitching staff gave up 31 runs in the four games of the Yankees series, the Birds staff has allowed just four in two games against Tampa Bay.
In fact, the Orioles are 5-1 in their last six games against the Rays, allowing just eight total runs in those six games.
The starters had gone six consecutive games without a quality start, pitching to an ERA of 6.67 in that time, until Miguel Gonzalez delivered one last night, allowing just two runs over six innings.
When the...
Manny Machado's defense at third base has been very solid since he got to Baltimore on Aug. 9. He has certainly surprised some people with a flawless move over the diamond from short. But has he surprised himself with how well he has done there?
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised, but you know I'm athletic, and I'm a shortstop. It's a tough adjustment, but I think I've been doing it pretty well," Machado said before yesterday's game with Tampa Bay.
"Whenever I have time, I go out there...
This must be pretty exciting for Nate McLouth. Batting .140 and let go by the Pittsburgh Pirates in late May, now he's batting .279 and leading off for the Orioles and tonight getting mobbed by his teammates after a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth provided a 3-2 win over Tampa Bay.
"This is neat," McLouth said. "Almost daily you can kind of sense and feel the excitement growing. The crowds, it's almost like a college football crowd to to be honest with you. It's been neat to...
Make a great defensive play in the top of the ninth. Single and score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Just another night for Manny Machado, who at this time last year was leading Frederick to a Carolina League championship.
Machado had just about everyone in the Yard marveling at his play that got the last out of the Tampa ninth. He charged in to field a slow roller off Evan Longoria's bat and then made a fake throw to first, spun around and threw back to third. Rich Thompson had...
On a night when the two teams struggled often to get a clutch hit, the Orioles got two big ones in the last of the ninth to beat Tampa Bay 3-2 in front of 26,076 at Camden Yards.
Manny Machado led off the inning with a single to left off Kyle Farnsworth and moved to second on Robert Andino's sac bunt. Then Nate McLouth ripped a single off the right-field wall down the line to give the Orioles a walk-off win and put them three games ahead of the Rays.
Jim Johnson pitched the top of the ninth...
He is starting on the mound for the Orioles tonight and he might be the biggest surprise on the team this year.
Right-hander Miguel Gonzalez is 6-4 with a 3.62 ERA, one year after he pitched a total of 56 2/3 innings in the Red Sox system, mostly at Double-A, going 0-7 with a 5.40 ERA.
Now he is pitching big games for the Orioles in a pennant race.
The Orioles found him pitching in Mexico over the winter and signed him as a minor league free agent on February 28, after spring training had...
One day after leaving the game in the fourth inning with a right knee injury, Orioles pitcher Jason Hammel is still waiting to get an MRI and that won't happen until tomorrow.
His mood is not any beter about the situation, he said.
"Not really, I'm frusrated. That is all I can be right now until something positive shows up. It's just frustrating.
"It is a good thing that there isn't a lot of swelling, but that just raises more questions for me about what is going on," Hammel...
If there is one thing we should have learned about the 2012 Orioles, probably long before now, is they are amazingly resilient and can bounce back time and time again.
They took another hit last night when Jason Hammel limped off the mound injured, just two games after Nick Markakis headed off the field injured. But that didn't keep the Orioles from winning 9-2 over Tampa Bay to start a big three-game series.
Six pitchers combined for a five-hitter as the O's, at least last night, overcame...
It was a night where J.J. Hardy let his bat do the talking. The Orioles shortstop, usually reserved in interviews, had few words to say after his two-homer, five-RBI night led the Orioles past Tampa Bay 9-2 for a share of first place in the American League East.
"I don't know, I can't explain it," Hardy said. "I got a couple of pitches to hit and didn't miss them. He's a tough pitcher (Matt Moore) and it was nice to see him get out of there early.
"Steve Johnson for one came in and...
Orioles pitcher Jason Hammel said he felt great and thought he was back on track tonight in his second start since coming off the disabled list.
Then he felt something in his right knee again, on the second pitch he threw to Evan Longoria with two outs in the top of the fourth. He went on to walk him and shortly after that, Hammel left the game, injured again.
Again, the right knee. The one he had arthroscopic surgery on in July.
"It felt exactly the same as it did in the game against...
It wasn't exactly the way the Orioles drew it up, as their starter left the game in the fourth, but they used six pitchers and a huge game at the plate by J.J. Hardy to beat Tampa Bay 9-2 in Game 1 of a big three-game series at Camden Yards.
Pending the outcome of the Yankees-Red Sox game in Boston, the Orioles trail the first-place Bronx Bombers by a half-game.
Instant update: The Red Sox walked off with a 4-3 win over the Yankees, meaning the O's and Yankees are tied for first place in...
Some O's and Rays notes as this game moves to the fifth inning with the Orioles leading Tampa Bay 3-1.
Steve Johnson came on to pitch in the top of the fourth tonight when Jason Hammel left with a right knee injury. Johnson is 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA over seven big league games, including two starts, this year.
In 21 innings, he has allowed just 14 hits with six walks with 27 strikeouts and a batting average against of only .192. Impressive, as he has done that amid irregular work. He has...
Could this series between the Orioles and Tampa Bay be low-scoring?
It certainly was the last time these teams played when there were three straight shutouts. Tampa Bay won the series opener 2-0 on Aug. 3 and then the O's posted 4-0 and 1-0 wins. Over three games, the Orioles outscored the Rays 5-2.
The Rays' pitching staff leads the majors in ERA (3.22) and opponent average (.230) and leads the American League in strikeouts (1,170). Only one pitching staff in the last 25 years has led the...
