ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles broke a 1-1 tie with three runs in the top of the seventh, and they're still batting.
Cesar Ramos replaced starter Wade Davis after J.J. Hardy lined a two-run double into the left field corner.
Matt Wieters led off with his second hit - yes, it was a good idea to bat him fifth - and Adam Jones followed with a single. Mark Reynolds doubled to break the tie and collect his first RBI as an Oriole.
Felix Pie bounced to short against a drawn-in infield, but...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Zach Britton already knows the dangers of walking batters, but he got another reminder today.
Britton opened the third inning by walking the last two hitters in the Rays lineup, Matt Joyce and Sam Fuld. Joyce scored with one out on Elliot Johnson's safety squeeze bunt.
Joyce didn't break for home until Johnson laid down the bunt, so it wasn't a suicide squeeze.
Britton caught two breaks in the inning. B.J. Upton appeared to drop a single into right field after the...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Manager Buck Showalter had to change his lineup today with Luke Scott unable to play because of a strained groin muscle. One of the adjustments raised Matt Wieters from eighth to fifth in the order.
Wieters was hitting .167 with no homers or RBIs after the first two games of this series, but Showalter played a hunch.
Wieters responded with a bloop single into left field with two outs in the first inning that scored Brian Roberts and gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead.
I'll...
ST. PETERSBURGH, Fla. - I'm heading to the visiting television booth at Tropicana Field for my O's Xtra segment on MASN2, but I wanted to pass along a few pre-game quotes from manager Buck Showalter.
On Luke Scott:
"He's day-to-day. Hopefully, we got ahead of it a little bit. He was feeling it a little bit earlier. He said it wasn't a big deal. He got it wrapped. When he came out of the batter's box on the potential double play, he was a little tender with it. We hope we kind of caught...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles officially placed left-hander Brian Matusz on the disabled list today with a strained left intercostal muscle. Zach Britton takes his place on the roster and in the rotation.
Pitcher Justin Duchscherer will undergo an ablation this week on his lower back, which is a procedure that uses radio frequency to heat up the nerves, interrupts the nerve signals and decreases the pain. It's not an invasive procedure, and a player usually is shut down for four or five...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Third baseman Evan Longoria is out of the Rays' lineup after leaving last night's game with a strained oblique. Zach Britton must be smiling.
For the Rays:
B.J. Upton CF
Johnny Damon LF
Ben Zobrist 2B
Manny Ramirez DH
Kelly Shoppach C
Sean Rodriguez 3B
Elliot Johnson SS
Dan Johnson 1B
Sam Fuld RF
Wade Davis RHP
Luke Scott told reporters this morning that he felt some tightness in his groin over the last few days, but it worsened last night as he left the batter's...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Luke Scott remains sidelined with tightness in his right groin, but he's fairly optimistic that he'll avoid the disabled list.
Scott, who left last night's game with the injury, is aiming for a Wednesday return. Unfortunately, that means being out of the lineup for tomorrow's home opener.
Here's today's lineup vs. the Rays:
Brian Roberts 2B
Nick Markakis RF
Derrek Lee 1B
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Matt Wieters C
Adam Jones CF
Mark Reynolds 3B
Felix Pie LF
J.J. Hardy...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles were lucky to escape Tropicana Field with one win in last year's opening series. They'll go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon.
Oh, how times have changed.
"This has always been a tough place for us and I think for a lot of people in the last three or four years," said second baseman Brian Roberts.
"You start to have flashbacks to other years. You just know how difficult it is to win here. The atmosphere, the way their team sets up, they always play...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Chris Tillman threw six hitless innings, Brian Roberts broke a scoreless tie with a three-run homer, and everybody wants to talk about Nick Markakis.
I'm fine with it.
Markakis made one of the most outstanding, clutch catches you'll ever see, taking away a game-tying extra-base hit from Ben Zobrist with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to preserve a 3-1 victory over the Rays. Markakis leaped for the ball, caught it at the top of the fence and crashed into the...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Luke Scott is listed as day-to-day after straining his right groin muscle during tonight's game.
Felix Pie pinch-ran for Scott in the seventh inning after the veteran reached on a fielder's choice. It proved to be a key substitution, as Pie threw out B.J. Upton at the plate to end the bottom of the seventh and keep the game scoreless. Pie had replaced Scott in left field.
We weren't aware of the injury until after the Orioles' 3-1 win. It just looked like sound...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Rays made things interesting in the eighth. And by "interesting," I mean heart-pounding.
Michael Gonzalez returned to his little dome of horrors and walked the first two batters he faced, including Ben Zobrist on four pitches. He fell behind, 2-0, to Johnny Damon before retiring him on a foul pop.
Gonzalez was done. In his place came Koji Uehara, who didn't walk a batter in his last 32 appearances of 2010.
Uehara got a called third strike on pinch-hitter Sam...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Well, it was fun while it lasted.
B.J. Upton singled to center field off Orioles reliever Jeremy Accardo with two outs in the seventh inning to break up the collective no-hit bid.
I could have sworn I ordered the combination no-hit platter tonight.
It was a clean single, and it came after Brian Roberts made a nice backhanded stop and off-balance throw to retire Dan Johnson.
Upton stole second despite a pitch-out, with catcher Matt Wieters bobbling the ball and making...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Rays have two baserunners through five innings against Chris Tillman, both coming on walks.
That's it.
TIllman has thrown 80 pitches, so getting him through the ninth will be quite a challenge. But hey, he wasn't even supposed to start tonight.
Kelly Shoppach swung through a 92 mph fastball to end the fifth, the 10th consecutive batter retired by Tillman.
Tillman had to fight to make the club out of spring training, and it mostly happened because Justin...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Chris Tillman blanked the Rays in the first inning, but they made him work for it.
Tillman went to a three-ball count to the first three hitters, though he retired Ben Zobrist on a foul pop up and struck out Johnny Damon on a 91 mph fastball.
Evan Longoria walked after taking two curveballs out of the strike zone with a 1-1 count and a 92 mph fastball that also missed.
Manny Ramirez fell behind, 0-2, looked at a 94 mph fastball that missed outside and lined to right to...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - I had a little time to kill before the Orioles took the field for batting practice, so I asked J.J. Hardy about last night's rundown that ended with him plowing into the Rays' B.J. Upton.
Third base umpire Scott Barry called Upton out, which brought manager Joe Maddon from the dugout for a prolonged argument. Hardy assumed that he was guilty of obstruction, which would have stoked an eighth-inning rally.
Hardy spun around and almost spiked his glove after making...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Zach Britton showed up at Tropicana Field today and sat in the left field seats. Just a rookie pitcher and his thoughts.
Britton got the surprise call yesterday that he was joining the Orioles in St. Petersburg and making his major league debut tomorrow afternoon against the Rays. He'll take it all in before taking the mound.
"It's exciting," he said. "I was walking around because the last time I came here, it was the game before Wade Boggs got his 3,000th hit. I...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Here are the lineups for tonight's game at Tropicana Field:
For the Orioles:
Brian Roberts 2B
Nick Markakis RF
Derrek Lee 1B
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Luke Scott LF
Adam Jones CF
Mark Reynolds 3B
Matt Wieters C
J.J. Hardy SS
Chris Tillman RHP
For the Rays:
Zobrist 2B
Damon LF
Longoria 3B
Ramirez DH
Johnson 1B
Upton CF
Joyce RF
Shoppach C
Brignac SS
Shields RHP
Also, an Orioles official confirmed that pitcher Alfredo Simon has obtained his visa and will enter the U.S....
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - One game, one win.
That's perfection in my book.
Of course, a franchise with 13 straight losing seasons can't function without a little adversity. The entire front office might break out in a rash if all the news is good.
The revelation about Brian Matusz's back and the MRI result put a real damper on last night's festivities. Jeremy Guthrie should have been the center of attention. He was brilliant.
"I've seen him pretty good, last August and September, but...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The news on Brian Matusz is unfortunate, to say the least, but we shouldn't focus entirely on the negative after a 4-1 win over the Rays.
Jeremy Guthrie was superb, blanking the Rays on three hits over eight innings. No way he was coming out for the ninth with his pitch count at 94.
"We were able to throw a lot of secondary pitches in good spots for strikes," Guthrie said. "I always work on those pitches as much as I can. Both the curveball and changeup are pitches...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - I'd point out that Brian Matusz is snakebit, but that's about the only bad thing that hasn't happened to him in Florida.
Matusz said he began noticing some discomfort in his back last week, and it grew progressively worse until he couldn't throw this afternoon.
"It really did sneak up on me," he said after tonight's 4-1 victory over the Rays. "About four or five days ago, I was feeling some soreness in my lat area. Typical soreness, just like I'd feel after any...