3-2 Win Leaves Baltimore 6-0 on The Road! - N51_rob's Blog

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3-2 Win Leaves Baltimore 6-0 on The Road!

Posted on April 19, 2012 at 12:36 PM.

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Jones' solo shot in the 9th was the difference in a tight battle

Chicago, IL The Orioles have continued their winning ways on the road. The 3-2 victory helped the team improve to 8-4 on the you season.

It was a pitching duel as both Jason Hammel and Jake Peavy pitched 6 tough innings agianst two of the top 5 hitting teams in baseball. Endy Chavez who was given the start over Nolan Reimold got things started in the first inning working a walk off Peavy (one of 4 in the game). Chavez stole second and scored on a Nick Markakis RBI single. Baltimore took a 1-0 1st inning lead. They would increase that lead 2nd inning. Wilson Betemit would reach second on a throwing error by 2B Gordon Beckham. Beckham's throw sailed in to the Oriole dugout and Betemit was given second base as a result. Next up Chris Davis extended his hit streak to 8 games with an RBI single to stretch the lead to 2-0. Davis finished the day 1-4 his season batting average is .333 currently. Chicago would show some life in the bottom of the second as Dayan Viciedo battled Hammel and worked a 2 out walk. Gordon Beckham singled to move Viciedo into scoring position. Tyler Flowers would bring Viciedo home with an RBI single to close the gap to 2-1.

For the next four and an half innings it was all about the pitchers. Both Hammel and Peavy started locking up batters and posting 0's on the score board. Peavy started locating his fastball and getting swing throughs on off-speed pitches in the bottom of the zone. Peavy would allow only 4 hits, to go with his 4 walks and 3K's. If not for Beckham's error he allowed only one earned run, earning a quality start. Hammel was equally effective. Working inside and outside while staying down int he zone, Hammel was able to scatter the 6 hits he allowed. Oriole pitching coach Rick Adair mentioned how he wants the staff pitching to contact early in the season to save pitches and stretch out his starter and Hammel did that in only striking out 3. Hammel got into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the 6th inning. Hammel was cruising until he faced Paul Konerko who was stuck on career HR #399 since April 13, connected on 1-2 pitch up in the zone and drove it out for his 400th career home run. Konerko receive a curtain call from the fans on the south side and a small ovation from some of the Orioles including Hammel.

Hammel got into it a little deeper when Adam Dunn beat the shift lacing a ball past the shifted infield into left field and raced to 2nd as Chavez chased the ball down. That set the stage for one of two game saving plays by Chavez. SS Alexi Ramirez sent a ball through the infield past a diving JJ Hardy as Dunn raced home, Endy Chavez fielded the ball and came throwing, His perfect throw beat Dunn to the plate by a step and he was tagged out to preserve the 2-2 tie. Chavez wasn't done though. In the bottom of the 7th he did it again. This time with Pedro Strop pitching Gordan Beckham doubled to put himself in scoring position, after AJ Pierzynski popped out, Alejandro De Aza sent another grounder through the infield and Beckham decided to test Chavez again. It turned out to be a poor decesion as Chavez threw him out at the plate as well. The 7th inning ended with the score still tied at 2.

Chavez' two game savers

Zach "The Vulture" Phillps came in to pitch 0.2 of an inning in the 8th to "vulture" his second win of the season. He benefited from Adam Jones hitting a game winning solo HR (his 4th of the season) off Jessie Crain who fell behind Jones 3-0, Crain threw a get it over fastball to make the count 3-1. Jones jumped all over Crain's 3-1 fastball and deposited into the left center bleachers. Jim Johnson closed out the 9th inning for his 5th scoreless inning and his 5th save.

Baltimore will go for the sweep tomorrow as Gavin Floyd (0-1, 15.75) looks to stop the 3 game slide, and bounce back from a disappointing 1.2 innings and 9 earned runs against Detroit last Saturday. Baltimore will send out Tommy Hunter (2-0, 4.37) looking for the rare 4 game sweep.

Highlights