Baltimore Orioles: Lacking the Fundamentals in 4-2 Loss
By Nate Wardle
Apr 7, 2014; Bronx, NY, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher
Ubaldo Jimenez(31) reacts as he is taken out of the game against the New York Yankees during the fifth inning of a game at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Game 7: Baltimore Orioles 2 New York Yankees 4 F
W: Hiroki Kuroda (1-1)
L: Ubaldo Jimenez (0-2)
S: Shawn Kelley (1)
MVP: Yangervis Solarte 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
The GOOD: Two bright spots. One, Matt Wieters continues to tear the cover off the ball. He went 2-4 Monday, raising his average to a team-leading .391. His offense so far has been a very encouraging sign, even though he is one of the only players hitting. Zach Britton threw two more innings, leaving up no hits and striking out two. He did come in in a bases loaded jam and walked in a run, but it was quite a tight spot.
The BAD: Fundamentals. One glaring omission so far this year has been the free swinging approach. The Orioles batted 34 times. They drew only one walk, no one saw more than 20 pitches, and Jonathan Schoop and Ryan Flaherty didn’t even bat four times. This is allowing opposing pitchers to work too far into games. But even more frustrating was mental errors on the basepaths by Jonathan Schoop and Nelson Cruz. The Orioles are struggling in almost every facet of the game, and can’t afford to be giving up out right now. But they gave up two on awful plays Monday. Also, David Lough appears to be pressing, as evident by his .105 batting average. Ryan Flaherty was hitless again Monday. Ubaldo Jimenez walked five guys, which is never going to work in the AL East.
What’s NEXT: Game 2 vs. the Yankees will be the Orioles 8th game of the season. Another 1:05 p.m. start, the Birds will send Wei-Yin Chen (0-1) to the mound to face the Yankees’ Ivan Nova (1-0). Considering each of their pasts against the opponent, and Chen’s struggles through the spring and his first start, I’m not exactly brimming with confidence.