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David Lough Walks the Orioles Off

By Nate Wardle

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Apr 25, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph (36) tags Boston Red Sox left fielder Hanley Ramirez (13) out at home plate during the fourth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Wow.

An emotional roller coaster for Oriole fans, and for the city of Baltimore on Saturday night.

As someone who works in the news business, it is hard to put the Baltimore Orioles’ win in perspective right now.  The rioting and violence, like what has been seen in Ferguson, has come to Baltimore. Sports have a role in this world, but with everything else going on in the city, it is a back seat.

In fact, as I watch the postgame, numerous questions to Buck are in regards to what is going on in Baltimore.

But, with that being said, my role here is to discuss the Baltimore Orioles.

Wei-Yin Chen pitched a masterful game on Saturday. Of course, he allowed a two-run home run, but outside of that, he pitched fantastic ball. Eight innings ties the best start of his career.

Then, Zach Britton came in and gave up a walk and several ground balls. Unfortunately, those ground balls were not fielded cleanly, errors were made, etc. And all of a sudden the game becomes 3-3. But, Britton was able to get out of the inning with no further issues.

Let me emphasize, Zach Britton pitched very, very well tonight. A wet ball, ground balls that had eyes, a few defensive miscues. Things were ugly, but I don’t think it was on Britton.

The O’s went down very, very quietly in the 9th, and I had a bad feeling about the rest of the game. Oh, ye of little faith.

In the 10th, Xander Bogaerts led off the inning by taking the first pitch from reliever Brad Brach to left-center field to break the tie. Brach didn’t have it tonight. But, he got one out, and Brian Matusz came in and got David Ortiz to ground into a double play.  Yes, David Ortiz, Brian Matusz is still your daddy! 

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The bottom of the 10th featured Adam Jones leading off against Koji Uehara, and Adam hit a looping fly ball toward right field. Allen Craig dove in an attempt to catch the ball, and it went past him and Adam motored into third base with a triple.  Chris Davis came up and easily lifted a sacrifice fly to left field, tying the game.

And that brought up David Lough. And the hope was he could get on base and use his legs to help win the game. But Lough worked the count against Koji, and then absolutely drilled a pitch to right field, over the scoreboard to walk the Birds off as winners.

It was a fantastic way for the Orioles to end a game that had become a subplot in a major national story. It won’t solve the nation’s problems, and it might not solve the Orioles’ problems.

But what it did do was give the Orioles life. A win the team needed.  It wasn’t pretty, the defense still struggled, walked hitters scored, but the O’s won. And in the challenging AL East, that is a great result.

Next: Orioles Tough To Watch Right Now

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