Baltimore Orioles: Chris Tillman Nearly Perfect in 3-0 Win
Jul 10, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Chris Tillman (30) pitches during the first inning against the Washington Nationals at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Chris Tillman gave up a leadoff single to the Tigers’ Ian Kinsler to start the first inning. Here we go again, right?
Tillman has been bad this year with leadoff hitters in innings … like, really bad. Coming into the Saturday night game, opponents were hitting .321 on 36 hits in 112 at-bats when leading off the game or as first batters in innings. Beyond that, he had also given up 17 walks for a total on base percentage of .411! No wonder it has been a rough season.
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So, the O’s were doomed against the high-powered Tigers who were throwing the ever awesome David Price against them.
But this is the game of baseball, the game where anything can happen. After giving up an additional baserunner in the first inning on a one-out walk, followed by a wild pitch, Tillman merely set down the next 23 batters. Zach Britton went 1-2-3 in the ninth, and the Orioles made a Manny Machado homer and two-RBI single by Caleb Joseph in the final inning stand up for a 3-0 win.
Take away the first hitter of the game for the Tigers, and the Orioles did indeed pitch a 27-out no-hitter.
Making it happen for Tillman was his ability to have total command of all his pitches. The mix of speeds was awesome, and his off-speed pitches were truly of the sort that “drop off the table.” May this trend continue! It needs to for the Orioles to get back to the top of the American League East.
This was a big game for the Orioles. Another loss to the Tigers would have continued the pain of July’s slump. And it would have been especially devastating to have such a finely-pitched game go to waste at the end.
Yet again, the Orioles are so close, but so far. Adam Jones missed a home run literally by inches. Chris Davis sent a ball all of the way to the wall in deepest center field. And until Caleb Joseph squeaked a soft liner into short center to score the insurance runs with two outs in the ninth, the O’s were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. There has to be a breakthrough on all of this, and it has to come soon.
The Orioles will face Justin Verlander on Sunday afternoon. This will only be his sixth start of the season and he has a 5.34 ERA. However, Verlander only gave up one run on five hits in 7.2 innings during his last start against the Twins. Miguel Gonzalez will attempt to regain his historically consistent form for the Orioles.