Lough updates his health, Hunter talks about save and more
By Roch Kubatko
NEW YORK - Orioles right-hander Bud Norris wasn't used in relief tonight, so he's slated to start one of the games against the Blue Jays this weekend at Camden Yards. Chris Tillman and Ubaldo Jimenez also will pitch. Manager Buck Showalter must decide on the order.
David Lough entered tonight's game in the ninth inning as a defensive replacement after undergoing concussion tests earlier today in Baltimore.
"I was having the same symptoms I was having in spring training - lightheadedness, floaters in my eyes - so they sent me back to Baltimore and everything checked out fine, so they sent me back here for the game," Lough said.
"It's better now. I think we all got it all taken care of, squared away. Back to normal.
"It's been a lingering thing, just kind of playing through it, but they could tell I wasn't right out there. I didn't feel right, so I spoke up and said something. And they said I needed to go run some tests and everything is fine now."
Lough, who's 2-for-19, took a train to Baltimore yesterday and was examined by two doctors this morning before arriving at Yankee Stadium for the start of the game.
Asked if his symptoms are supposed to clear up on their own, Lough replied, "Pretty much."
Tommy Hunter picked up his third save after a tense ninth inning.
"It was interesting," he said. "Definitely made that a little harder than you'd typically want that to be, but they hit the line twice, man. Got to try to get out of the situation."
Brian Roberts hit a sacrifice fly with two on and none out.
"B-Rob, you can't walk a guy to load the bases with nobody out, so just attack him. And a nice double play to end the game," Hunter said.
Hunter needed eight pitches to dispose of Roberts, his former teammate.
"He fouled off some pretty good pitches," Hunter said. "There were a couple balls down a little bit off the plate and he was trying to go out and get. He's a professional. That was a professional at-bat."
Brian Matusz was a pro in the eighth, stranding two runners to keep the game tied.
"That was huge," Hunter said. "It was a big situation going in and he knows it. That's the guy who's stranded, what, 90 runners in the last couple of years? He's good at what he does and I'm glad he's on our side."
The Orioles improved to 4-5 with their series win.
"It's going to be a happy flight," Hunter said. "Any time you win on a get-away day, you enjoy the flight back home. We've got a day off tomorrow, recoup and get back out there on whatever day that is when we get home.
"What is today? Wednesday? On Friday. That's the thing. They all run together."
Matusz knew he would get a shot in the eighth with the left-handers due to bat.
"The game plan was to attack and throw strikes and just go after them," he said.
Though he'd prefer to start, Matusz also takes pride in stranding runners.
"Oh, absolutely," he said. "There's no better feeling than going out there and stranding some runners and keeping the team in the game and giving the guys a chance to come back and win the ballgame like we did today.
"Regardless of who is up there, you want to go up there and get some outs. I'll tell you what made me nervous was throwing the four-pitch (intentional) walk with a guy on third base. I've never been so nervous to throw four pitches. But in those situations, getting Jacoby (Ellsbury) and (Brian) McCann, it doesn't matter who is in the box. Got to get outs one way or the other, and it's great having (Matt) Wieters out there, having 100 percent ultimate trust in him. And just shaking your head yes and attacking the zone."
Jonathan Schoop hit a long three-run homer off Masahiro Tanaka in the second inning.
"We saw the video (of Tanaka), but in that at-bat he just made a mistake," Schoop said. "He left a slider up and I put the barrel out and the ball went out. He just made a mistake there and then he started to keep the ball low."
Schoop is learning to make adjustments at the plate.
"Yeah, you have to," he said. "If you want to play, you have to make some adjustments. You have to know what they're trying to do with you and you have to make the adjustments. He threw me a slider and then threw me another slider. I'm trying to lay off it and find a good pitch to hit. I still need to get better and better."
Adam Jones singled twice and struck out three times.
Asked about facing Tanaka, he replied, "We don't care. We got the W. That's all that matters.
"We had some good at-bats against Tanaka. He's got good stuff. You can't deny that. He's a strike-thrower, but we had good at-bats and we fought him. We like hanging L's on starting pitchers, but at the end of the day, we got the win. He went out there and battled for seven innings and we battled him also. We had some tough at-bats off him also and we didn't make anything easy.
"It's nothing special to me. He's just another pitcher in their rotation. He's just another guy we have to go through to get to where we want to be.
"I think he has to adjust to us also. We're different hitters over here. You can't just try to groove anything to us. We hit it. We hack up here in MLB. There are going to be adjustments on both sides. He's going to have to adjust to these hitters, especially in this division, and we have to adjust to his stuff. But it helped that we faced (Hiroki) Kuroda two days prior and their stuff plays similar. Those are types of things that help you out in a long season."
Tommy Hunter picked up his third save after a tense ninth inning.
"It was interesting," he said. "Definitely made that a little harder than you'd typically want that to be, but they hit the line twice, man. Got to try to get out of the situation."
Brian Roberts hit a sacrifice fly with two on and none out.
"B-Rob, you can't walk a guy to load the bases with nobody out, so just attack him. And a nice double play to end the game," Hunter said.
Hunter needed eight pitches to dispose of Roberts, his former teammate.
"He fouled off some pretty good pitches," Hunter said. "There were a couple balls down a little bit off the plate and he was trying to go out and get. He's a professional. That was a professional at-bat."
Brian Matusz was a pro in the eighth, stranding two runners to keep the game tied.
"That was huge," Hunter said. "It was a big situation going in and he knows it. That's the guy who's stranded, what, 90 runners in the last couple of years? He's good at what he does and I'm glad he's on our side."
The Orioles improved to 4-5 with their series win.
"It's going to be a happy flight," Hunter said. "Any time you win on a get-away day, you enjoy the flight back home. We've got a day off tomorrow, recoup and get back out there on whatever day that is when we get home.
"What is today? Wednesday? On Friday. That's the thing. They all run together."
Matusz knew he would get a shot in the eighth with the left-handers due to bat.
"The game plan was to attack and throw strikes and just go after them," he said.
Though he'd prefer to start, Matusz also takes pride in stranding runners.
"Oh, absolutely," he said. "There's no better feeling than going out there and stranding some runners and keeping the team in the game and giving the guys a chance to come back and win the ballgame like we did today.
"Regardless of who is up there, you want to go up there and get some outs. I'll tell you what made me nervous was throwing the four-pitch (intentional) walk with a guy on third base. I've never been so nervous to throw four pitches. But in those situations, getting Jacoby (Ellsbury) and (Brian) McCann, it doesn't matter who is in the box. Got to get outs one way or the other, and it's great having (Matt) Wieters out there, having 100 percent ultimate trust in him. And just shaking your head yes and attacking the zone."
Jonathan Schoop hit a long three-run homer off Masahiro Tanaka in the second inning.
"We saw the video (of Tanaka), but in that at-bat he just made a mistake," Schoop said. "He left a slider up and I put the barrel out and the ball went out. He just made a mistake there and then he started to keep the ball low."
Schoop is learning to make adjustments at the plate.
"Yeah, you have to," he said. "If you want to play, you have to make some adjustments. You have to know what they're trying to do with you and you have to make the adjustments. He threw me a slider and then threw me another slider. I'm trying to lay off it and find a good pitch to hit. I still need to get better and better."
Adam Jones singled twice and struck out three times.
Asked about facing Tanaka, he replied, "We don't care. We got the W. That's all that matters.
"We had some good at-bats against Tanaka. He's got good stuff. You can't deny that. He's a strike-thrower, but we had good at-bats and we fought him. We like hanging L's on starting pitchers, but at the end of the day, we got the win. He went out there and battled for seven innings and we battled him also. We had some tough at-bats off him also and we didn't make anything easy.
"It's nothing special to me. He's just another pitcher in their rotation. He's just another guy we have to go through to get to where we want to be.
"I think he has to adjust to us also. We're different hitters over here. You can't just try to groove anything to us. We hit it. We hack up here in MLB. There are going to be adjustments on both sides. He's going to have to adjust to these hitters, especially in this division, and we have to adjust to his stuff. But it helped that we faced (Hiroki) Kuroda two days prior and their stuff plays similar. Those are types of things that help you out in a long season."
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