Bowie Baysox trying to gain Eastern League playoff berth (Hobgood to DL)

The short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds placed pitcher Matt Hobgood on the disabled list today. No official reason for the DL move has yet been announced, but it appears Hobgood's shoulder has become an issue again. Hobgood was on the comeback trail this year from a strained rotator cuff but had struggled with Aberdeen, going 0-6 with an ERA of 10.46. Over 26 2/3 innings, he gave up 41 hits with 23 walks and 13 strikeouts. The Double-A Bowie Baysox have picked a bad time to lose some games. With Monday's 5-1 loss to Altoona, Bowie has lost four of its last five games and is 6-11 in the last 17 contests. The Baysox are in second place in their division and the top two teams make the playoffs. But their lead on third-place Richmond is now just 1/2 game with seven games left. The Baysox are 72-62 on the year and lefty Mike Ballard (7-2, 3.51) pitches tonight for Bowie as they try to stay in the lead for that playoff berth. The Dominican Summer League Orioles lost 2-0 to the Angels Monday in game one of a best-of-five DSL \Championship Series. The Orioles are hosting Game Two of that series today. The Angels have won that game, 4-3 in 10 innings to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Felix Pie has reported to Triple-A Norfolk and now played two games for the Tides. He is 2-for-9 with a triple, two runs scored and an RBI in those two ballgames. The Orioles eighth-round draft pick, Arizona State outfielder Johnny Ruettiger got off to a slow start when he joined Single-A Delmarva but now his bat is sizzling hot. After going 3-for-29 over his first eight Shorebirds games, now Ruettiger has four three-hit games over the past five contests and is 13-for-21 with four doubles in that time, raising his average from .103 to .320. The 21-year-old lefty hitter went 3-for-4 with a double last night but Delmarva was shutout 8-0 at Greensboro. The Shorebirds have now been shutout in back-to-back games and have not scored over their last 19 innings and have lost eight in a row.