Tillman talk and other notes from last night

Tillman talk and other notes from last night
You wouldn't think a pitcher that has worked to an ERA of 1.33 over his last four starts would be in danger of losing his rotation spot, but that may be the case for Chris Tillman. The positive results with that ERA have come at a time when he keeps failing to show pitch efficiency and struggles to get deep in games. Tillman's last four starts: May 11 vs. Seattle: 6 IP, 1 ER, 112 pitches. May 16 at Boston: 5 IP, 0 runs, 88 pitches. May 22 vs. Washington: 5 IP, 1 ER, 97 pitches. May 27 at...
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A short start and long string of double plays end O's win streak

A short start and long string of double plays end O's win streak
To say the least, it was a frustrating night in Oakland, where the Orioles have had a few. Their starter could not survive five innings, meanwhile, at bat, the Orioles hit into four double plays. The scoreless streak for the Orioles' bullpen ended at 15 2/3 innings when Oakland scored three runs off Alfredo Simon in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie. The A's beat the O's 6-2 to end the Orioles' five-game win streak. The Orioles are now 1-10 in their last 11 games at Oakland and have...
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Will it be a tough Gio tonight for O's against Gonzalez?

Will it be a tough Gio tonight for O's against Gonzalez?
Chris Tillman takes the mound for the Orioles tonight for his 10th start of the season. Tillman has pitched very well over his last three starts. In that time, his ERA is 1.13 and he has allowed 14 hits and two runs over 16 innings. Now the Orioles would like him to get deeper into the games as he has pitched six, five and five innings over those starts. His mound opponent tonight is a very talented lefty in the A's Gio Gonzalez, who is 5-2 with the sixth-best ERA in the American League at...
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Series preview: O's versus A's

Series preview:  O's versus A's
The Orioles begin a six-game west coast road trip with a three-game series at Oakland tonight. Now that they have reached the .500 mark at 24-24 with a five-game win streak, the O's could go over that mark tonight. A win would put Baltimore over the .500 mark for the first time since the Orioles were 6-5 on April 14. The Orioles are now 58-47 (.552) in 105 games since Buck Showalter took over last August as manager. Vladimir Guerrero is batting .380 during an 11-game hitting streak and Nick...
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Leo Gomez will manage at Aberdeen; Drese to be released

Leo Gomez will manage at Aberdeen; Drese to be released
Former Oriole Leo Gomez will manage the short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds this season. Aberdeen opens a new year in the New York-Penn League on June 17 at home against Hudson Valley. The last two seasons, Gomez was a field coach for the O's Gulf Coast League and Bluefield clubs. He played with the Orioles from 1990 to 1995, batting .245 over 475 games. Gary Kendall, now the manager at Double-A Bowie, was Aberdeen's manager the last three seasons. Meanwhile, the Orioles are expected...
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Extra-base hits have been elusive for Markakis

Extra-base hits have been elusive for Markakis
Nick Markakis has been starting to get base hits and his average is on the rise. Markakis is working on an 11-game batting streak, during which he is hitting .362 as the Orioles get set to open a series tonight at Oakland. But here is a disturbing Markakis stat. He has just eight extra-base hits through 46 games and is on pace for just 28 this year. The last four years he has averaged 66 extra-base hits per season. Why the power outage right now for Markakis, a player who usually cranks out...
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Clubhouse comments from Vlad and Guthrie after the win over K.C.

Clubhouse comments from Vlad and Guthrie after the win over K.C.
After his game-winning RBI single in the 12th inning today, Vladimir Guerrero talked with reporters in the O's clubhouse with help from O's staffer Rudy Arias, who served as interpreter. Can you talk about your game-winning hit? "I was trying to look for a good pitch to hit and get a base hit. Nothing to pull or home runs, just trying to get good contact. I ran hard. I didn't know. Made sure I tried to beat the (possible) double play." On the Orioles getting back to .500. "I'm very...
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Reimold on his two-homer game against Kansas City

Reimold on his two-homer game against Kansas City
The day didn't start out great for Nolan Reimold, but it ended up that way. In the top of the second inning, Reimold, playing in left field, threw to the wrong base. With a man on first and one out, Wilson Betemit singled and Reimold's throw to third was much too late to get the runner and allowed Betemit to move into second. Kansas City went on to score four runs. Nolan Reimold talks about his first multi-homer game in the big leagues as the O's beat the Royals 6-5 "I should have been...
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A walk-off win and three-game sweep for the Orioles

A walk-off win and three-game sweep for the Orioles
After blowing a great opportunity to win the game in the last of the 11th, the Orioles did win it today in the 12th to complete a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals. Vladimir Guerrero's seeing-eye, ground single to center scored Robert Andino as the Orioles beat K.C. 6-5. Andino led off the 12th with a double and with one out and runners on first and second, Guerrero's single ended the game. The Orioles completed a 5-3 homestand. The Orioles trailed 4-0 after the top of the...
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Reimold homer notes

Reimold homer notes
What do Cliff Lee and Jeff Francis have in common? Besides being left-handed pitchers, they are now the last two hurlers to yield two homers in a single game to an Orioles batter. Nolan Reimold produced his first major league multi-homer game today, going deep in the second and third innings off Francis. He hit a solo shot to left on an 0-1 pitch in the second and his three-run homer an inning later came on an 0-2 pitch. Reimold hit six homers this year for Triple-A Norfolk in 39 games over...
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A rocky second for Guthrie as O's trail early against K.C.

A rocky second for Guthrie as O's trail early against K.C.
Jeremy Guthrie threw 42 pitches today in a rocky second inning. The Royals scored four times on five hits and a catcher's interference charged to Craig Tatum to take a 4-0 lead. Guthrie threw just 13 pitches in a sharp first inning when he fanned two batters, but was at 55 pitches through two frames. With two outs in the second, Tatum was charged with a catcher's interference as Alex Gordon reached. Melky Cabrera followed with a two-run single and both runs were unearned. Guthrie regrouped...
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After shoulder scare, Tatum returns to Orioles

After shoulder scare, Tatum returns to Orioles
Catcher Craig Tatum returns to the Orioles today and will start the game, catching Jeremy Guthrie and batting ninth in the series finale against Kansas City. Not only is Tatum thrilled to be back in the major leagues, but he is very relieved he is not dealing with a major shoulder injury. In early May with Triple-A Norfolk, Tatum made a throw in a game and felt big-time time pain in that right shoulder that sent him to the disabled list. "When I threw a ball I thought I was dying, my...
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Lose four, win four

Lose four, win four
The Orioles have now followed a four-game losing streak with a four-game winning streak. They were outscored 42-15 in the four losses and have outscored their opponents 24-9 in the four wins. The O's lost last Thursday by a 13-2 score to the Yankees and last Friday by a 17-5 score to Washington. At that point, the pitching staff was a bit of a mess. But during these last four games and wins, the team ERA is 1.75. O's starters have pitched to an ERA of 2.25 in this stretch and the much...
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The Orioles use their biggest inning since 2009 to beat K.C.

The Orioles use their biggest inning since 2009 to beat K.C.
The Orioles didn't score in six of their eight innings at the plate tonight, but they got more than enough runs in one inning to beat Kansas City 9-2 this evening. They have taken the first two games of the series and will go for a sweep Thursday at 12:35 p.m. After being shut out on just 28 pitches by Luke Hochevar through three innings tonight, the Orioles scored eight runs in the fourth inning, by far their biggest inning of the year. They had six hits in the inning and sent 13 men to the...
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Wieters talks about batting with RISP

Wieters talks about batting with RISP
Orioles catcher Matt Wieters began this season going 7-for-7 when batting with runners in scoring position. While he wasn't going to keep hitting 1.000 in those clutch spots, he is still batting over .500 with RISP and the team is now 46 games into the season. Wieters is hitting .576 on the year at 19-for-33 with RISP. He has five doubles, three homers and 25 of his 26 RBIs in those spots. He is easily the American League's top hitter with RISP. So what is the key to hitting well in clutch...
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Does upcoming schedule give the O's a chance to shoot for .500?

Does upcoming schedule give the O's a chance to shoot for .500?
One thing that has been pretty true about how this Orioles season has gone is this observation. Just when you think you may have a handle on how the O's are playing, it will usually change. They began the year going 6-1 and fans were fired up by that start. They then proceeded to lose eight in a row. In late April, the Orioles won five of six against Boston and Chicago. They then lost six of seven. That was followed by a three-game sweep against Seattle and a series win on the road versus...
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Great news for the Frederick Keys franchise

Great news for the Frederick Keys franchise
The news came out yesterday, not long after I wrote this story about concern over the future for the Single-A Frederick Keys. The City of Frederick yesterday selected the Keys over an Atlantic League team to negotiate a new lease with to play in Harry Grove Stadium starting next year. This comes as great news and should mean the Keys, who have played as an Orioles' affiliate in Frederick since 1989, should continue there and remain aligned with the Orioles - hopefully for many, many years to...
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Wieters, Jones have emerged as real bright spots

Wieters, Jones have emerged as real bright spots
A caller to my radio show last night on the 105.7 FM The Fan in Baltimore asked me a question: Which ending was more exciting - Matt Wieters' caught stealing double play that ended Sunday's game or Adam Jones' walk-off homer last night in the ninth against Kansas City? Both were exciting finishes, but that was an easy one for me. I went with the walk-off homer. As this season marches on and the Orioles are past the quarter-pole and approaching the one-third point into this season, the...
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Two young guns on the mound tonight in Baltimore

Two young guns on the mound tonight in Baltimore
Tonight's pitching matchup at Camden Yards features two young-gun, rookie left-handers that were third-round draft picks out of high school. Zach Britton will be making his 10th major league start for the Orioles and 22-year-old Danny Duffy will be making his second big league start for Kansas City. Britton was drafted in the third round in 2006 out of Weatherford High in Texas. Duffy was drafted in Round 3 of 2007 out of Cabrillo High in California. Britton pitched 538 minor league innings...
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Jones talks about his season and batting second

Jones talks about his season and batting second
There seems to be a perception that Orioles' center fielder Adam Jones is playing better this year, a season where he is batting .289 with five homers and 24 RBIs. Jones said right now, he doesn't see that he is really playing any better than last year. "I think I'm playing the same way, playing hard," he said. "The results are a little different, but I'm bringing the same to the field every single day. It's going good so far, but it can always be better." Jones is not wrong if you...
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