This week has been able to post two great O's games. Monday night the Oriole's came out swinging, putting up 7 runs in the first two innings. The Mariners had to go to the bull pen early, starting the parade in the 2nd inning. Oriole's starter Chris Tillman came out dealing, and combined with the power hitting early, this game was over before it really started. With a few late inning scores, the Mariners made the game look a lot closer than it actually was. The final line was a 10-4 Orioles victory.
Tuesday night could not have been more different of an experience. Both starting pitchers were fantastic, yet Mariners' starting pitcher, Ramirez had the upper hand. Chen only pitched 5 and a third innings, throwing 103 pitches. Ramirez was able to pitch into the 9th, yet was unable to put the game away. Chen started great, and really only had one mistake, a 2 run shot in the 4th of the bat of catcher Miguel Olivo. The score remained the same, 2-0 Mariners, until the top of the 9th inning. Ramirez came out to try and finish off a complete game shut-out. O's manager Buck starting pushing all the right buttons here, bringing in pinch hitter Ryan Flaherty. Flaherty singled, and was followed up by another Nate McLouth single, ending Ramirez's night. Hardy sacrifice bunted to move the runners over for struggling Chris Davis. With runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, Chris Davis poked a single just through the gap by second base, breaking his 0-8 mini-slump. Both runners were able to score making the game 2-2 at the end of 9. In the top of the 11th the o's had the bases loaded with 2 outs for catcher Matt Wieters, it looked like the game could be almost over. Wieters proceeded to strike out on three straight pitches ending the O's chances. (Now to be honest, this is when I stopped watching and went to bed). It was not until the 18th inning that the O's were finally able to break through. Pinch hitting Teagarden came on with McLouth already on 3rd, due to a Reynolds "hit-and-run" style play and Reynolds on 1st. On what looked like a hit-and-run, Teagarden singled and allowed McLouth to score and Reynolds to move over to second. Later Reynolds scored to make the game 4-2. Johnson then came on to do what he does best, getting his MLB leading 44th save in 47 attempts.
The O's look to keep the magic going, after all the are 20 games about .500 for the first time since 1997! The Yankees were inactive Monday, and rained out last night, so the O's were not able to take over control of 1st, but they are practically tied heading into Wednesday. With the Yanks playing a double header today, and the O's trying to finish out a sweep of the Mariners, today could prove crucial in the AL East post season race.
In the aftermath of an 18 inning marathon, the O's have called up top prospect Dylan Bundy. Bundy is 19 and becomes the O's first player under 20 to make his debut since 1967. Bundy is currently listed as No. 2 on MLB.com's 100 top prospects list. Because the O's used 7 relief pitchers last night, Bundy is expected to be available out of the bullpen for tonights series finale. Should he be needed to come on, O's fans will be looking for a strong performance, after all you can never have to many solid arms in the thick of a late September pennant race.
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