Zach Britton was off his game tonight, allowing five runs in six innings in his third start of the season, raising his season ERA to 2.75. Britton was getting no luck all around, between ground ball placement and some defensive mishaps by Luke Scott and Mark Reynolds. A four run third inning is what really hurt him, as he allowed eight hits and a walk on the night while striking out six.
Following Britton, Josh Rupe got the ball in the seventh, where he could only record one out while allowing three runs on four hits and a walk. Jeremy Accardo relieved him with two men on and was able to get out of the inning, allowing one walk and recording one strikeout. Koji Uehara pitched a perfect eighth inning.
The bats just could not get going after a five run night in New York last night. After season long struggles at the plate, the Orioles managed to score only one run before the ninth inning on a Luke Scott RBI single. In the ninth, though, facing Indians reliever Joe Smith, the O’s got four hits along with Jake Fox getting hit by a pitch, but they were only able to produce one run out of it all.
The Indians cruised on to an 8-2 victory.
The Orioles take on the Tribe in game two of the series tomorrow at 1:05 PM as Jeremy Guthrie takes on Josh Tomlin.
Note:
Luke Scott was troubling to watch in left field tonight. Between hesitating with balls off the wall, being slow attacking line drives, and holding the ball too long at times, he just looked extremely uncomfortable. With his bat not being too stellar (5/23, .217) early on, it may be time soon to look at other options. Felix Pie may start getting some more playing time if this keeps up, and Luke Scott is also a trade chip for the Orioles if the team can’t get back on track. It may be too early to tell, but Scott in the field tonight was definitely frustrating.
