Around the Diamond – O’s 3, Red Sox 2

Around the Diamond

The Orioles took the rubber game in Boston, putting more distance between themselves and that three-game losing streak. They’re rewarded by a trip to the Bronx to face the Yankees – a team that has been rained out in the last two games.

First Base

This is the part of the program where I eat my words about Manny Machado. My argument in the podcast this week was that Manny was overmatched at the plate, and that he should be lowered in the lineup so that he could continue to grow with less pressure on him.

Oops.

Machado was impressive at the plate tonight. He was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple in the first (love the aggressiveness) walked, bunted for a single… he did it all tonight. Three hits and a walk look pretty nice in that two-hole.

Second Base

This was a great series at Camden North. I mean, if Boston fans are going to break that sell-out streak, O’s fans might as well pick up the slack, right? If the Orioles remain relevant in the AL East, Fenway may serve as the home-away-from-home the Red Sox have enjoyed at our expense.

Great work by PTY.

Third Base

Chris Tillman was not sharp, but I have to give him credit for hanging in there into the sixth tonight. His mechanics remained a mess, as did his fastball command. He did manage to command his breaking pitches well enough (particularly the curve, which could be devastating at times), but he lost too many at-bats. It wasn’t just the deep counts – though there were many. The real problem was getting ahead of batters, then losing them to a walk, or working himself into a hitter’s count.

All that aside, he pitched into the sixth, and gave up only 2 runs. If you put your team in a position to win when you don’t have your bet stuff, you’re doing OK. Here’s hoping that he can get himself into late 2012 form.

Home Plate

Great night from the bullpen. Brian Matusz had two clutch strikeouts to strand runners and turn the game over to the back end of the bullpen. Strop, O’Day and Johnson took care of business to close out the win. Johnson allowed a baserunner, which always makes a save more interesting, but never seemed to struggle.

Summary

Once again, Adam Jones and Chris Davis were the engine that drove the offense. Davis hit another home run, while Jones got timely hits to drive in the game-tying and go-ahead runs (in separate at-bats). These guys are absolutely raking, and are going to need to stay hot until the rest of the lineup gets going.

Jones/Davis: .434,7 HR, 29 RBI

Everyone else: .217, 4 HR, 14 RBI