It’s going to take a very good stretch for the Orioles to finish .500. With the two losses so far this week, they’re now 11 games below that threshold and at this point, they don’t have a whole lot else to play for.
Monday was pretty ugly. The Orioles carried a 3-0 lead into the sixth inning when the flood gates opened. Over the final four innings, the Mariners racked up ten runs and it ended up being a 10-5 final. Rookie starter Adam Loewen gave up five of those runs and reliever Eddy Rodriguez gave up the other five. The Orioles did hit three homeruns though. Brian Roberts, Melvin Mora and Nick Markasis all went yard.
Rodrigo Lopez was en fuego yesterday. He threw 7 2/3 shutout innings and he and two relievers combined for the shutout. Melvin Mora singled home a run in the first and Markasis doubled home a run in the seventh for the offense on either side, and it was good enough for the win.
Erik Bedard got the job done today, but the bats didn’t provide him with anything. He gave up two first inning runs and that was all Felix Hernandez and the Mariners would need. The only run for the Orioles came on Josh Gibbons’ RBI single in the sixth.
Next up is the Yankees, so if you’re a Red Sox fan, the Orioles are your second favorite team this weekend. Bruce Chen goes up against a very human Randy Johnson in the series opener on Friday.
