Arrieta flirted with disaster and got slapped (updated twice)

By Roch Kubatko

Orioles

July 31, 2011, 10:43am

Comments

If Jake Arrieta is going to keep loading the bases, bad things are going to happen. A three-run triple by Brett Gardner qualifies as a bad thing. A walk, error and single filled the bases with no outs in the fourth inning, and Gardner emptied them with a shot down the right field line. Gardner scored with one out on Curtis Granderson's grounder to first. Yankees 4, Orioles 1. J.J. Hardy's miscue on a potential double play ball was critical. Now Hardy's in a fielding slump. What's next? Arrieta has thrown 82 pitches, 48 for strikes. He's allowed four runs (two earned) and five hits, and walked four batters. He's loaded the bases in three of his four innings. The bullpen will be busy again today. Just what the Orioles didn't need. Just what they can't seem to avoid. Update: Chris Davis grounded into a force after Vladimir Guerrero's RBI single in the sixth. Yankees 4, Orioles 2. Update II: A team official texted that it's "unlikely" that the Orioles will make another trade before the 4 p.m. deadline. As I wrote last night, they're more inclined to keep Jeremy Guthrie and field offers over the winter.