masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles sure missed some scoring chances in the first three innings tonight against Justin Verlander. The game was tied 1-1 heading to the bottom of the third but the O’s left five runners on base over the first three innings.

Nick Markakis doubled in the first but later was thrown out at home on a play where it looked like he was safe but the call was out at the plate. Chris Davis walked and stole second in the second, but was stranded there.

In the third, the Orioles tied the game 1-1…The Orioles sure missed some scoring chances in the first three innings tonight against Justin Verlander. The game was tied 1-1 heading to the bottom of the third but the O’s left five runners on base over the first three innings.

Nick Markakis doubled in the first but later was thrown out at home on a play where it looked like he was safe but the call was out at the plate. Chris Davis walked and stole second in the second, but was stranded there.

In the third, the Orioles tied the game 1-1 but also left the bases loaded. Markakis’ second double of the game drove in Omar Quintanilla, who had walked. Davis came up with two outs and the bases loaded, but fell behind 0-2 in the count and then struck out swinging on a 1-2 pitch.

Verlander walked four over the first three innings to tie his season high and clearly was not at his best early on tonight providing the Orioles with chances but they got just the one run.

The Orioles went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position over the first three innings.

Coming into this outing, Verlander had allowed just one run over 15 innings in his past two starts against New York and Texas with just one walk and 22 strikeouts.

He is 6-2 with an ERA of 1.51 in 10 starts at home this year and is 7-0 with an ERA of 2.71 in 10 career starts against the Orioles. Verlander is 12-7 with an ERA of 2.46 on the year and ranks third in the AL in ERA, tied for second in strikeouts and tied for sixth in wins.

We’ll see how many good scoring chances the O’s get against him the rest of this game.

Wieters wacks one: Matt Wieters hit a two-run homer to right in the top of the fifth to give the Orioles a 3-1 lead. It was his 17th homer. Over his last nine games, Wieters is 10-for-32 with four doubles, four homers and 12 RBIs. He was robbed of a homer on a leaping catch at the left field wall in the first by Andy Dirks but he hit this where only a fan could catch it.