Baltimore Orioles: Monkeys Running Down Eutaw Street

Apr 21, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman (30) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports /

The Baltimore Orioles and Chris Tillman combined to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 with a come from behind victory on Thursday evening at Camden Yards.

If you saw some monkeys running down Eutaw Street, they came off the back of O’s starter Chris Tillman. Though not the best game of his career, it was a solid effort where he battled more than just monkeys, maybe some ghosts as well.

First for Tillman was simply the issue of facing the Jays, his personal nemesis #1. Coming into this contest he was a career 4-10 with a 5.79 ERA in 20 starts. After a difficult first inning with two hits, two walks and a hit batsman, the only thing good that could be said about it was that only two runs scored. It would have been easy for Tillman to think, “Oh no, here we go again against the Jays.” Everyone else was thinking it.

But Chris settled down nicely to get 13 of the next 16 batters over the following five innings, giving up only two more hits and a walk. It was a gutsy battle and he deserves the credit for limiting the damage and hanging in there for a quality start.

The second monkey or curse was the first inning ghost that so often shows up in a Tillman start. He certainly has no future as a reliever. Not counting last night, in 152 career starts he has a first inning ERA of 5.16 with an average against of .282 and OBP of .350. His second innings have a 4.91 ERA. He then settles down into very good numbers for innings three, four and five.

Tillman himself acknowledged this proclivity in a postgame comment, saying, “I’ve struggled in the first inning throughout my career, I think. Being able to bounce back like that is a big part of it, a big part of my success in the past.”

The third monkey or curse that Tillman had to deal with was the plate umpire Dan Bellino. Maybe every pitcher (or every fan of a pitcher) regularly thinks he is getting the short end of things on the balls and strikes. But this was no unique strike zone or squeezing that was going on. No, it involved egregiously horrible calls, evidenced by the numbers of players complaining (from both sides) and especially by the placid Matt Wieters getting tossed out of the game for complaining. It has to be REALLY bad for that to happen!