Mark Hendrickson got the win, his 2nd. George Sherrill earned his 14th save.

This one might’ve been better than the one on Thrusday against the Mets. After taking a 3-0 lead on an Aubrey Huff double in the 5th, a Brian Roberts sacrifice fly in the 6th, and a Roberts walk with the bases loaded, the Mets scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th. The score was still 5-3 going into the 9th inning. After a Luke Scott pop out, Greg Zaun hit his 2nd homerun of the season to cut the lead to one run. Nolan Riemold grounded out after pinch hitting for Robert Andino for out number two. Oscar Salazar pinch hit for the pitcher Hendrickson and grounded a single to right, bringing Roberts to the plate one more time. And he crushed his 7th homerun of the year to right field, giving us a 6 to 5 lead. That was the final score to a very exciting, highly unprobable victory for the Baltimore Orioles.

Brad Bergesen started the game and he pitched very well. Through 6 innings he gave up no runs on only 2 hits and no walks. Then when the Orioles were up to bat in the 7th Bergy ran out a possible double play ball. It must’ve had some kind of effect because he just wasn’t the same pitcher after that. Back to back doubles started the inning off, followed by a sharp single to score another run. He got Jayson Werth to pop out before giving up another single to tie the game at 3. Danys Baez replaced him and got one out before giving up a homerun to pinch hitter Ryan Howard, who wasn’t expected to play after visiting the hospital with flu symptoms. Baez finished the inning by getting a fly out. Matt Albers and Mark Hendrickson combined to keep the game in check in the 8th inning. After the O’s took back the lead in the 9th, Sherrill came in and shut the Phillies down 1-2-3 to end it.

Player of the game: Brian Roberts (2-4, R, 4 RBI, BB, HR (7) (.288 AVG))

The O’s go for the sweep today. Opening day starters for both teams on the mound. Jeremy Guthrie (4-7, 5.42) for the O’s, Cole Hamels (4-2, 4.48) for the Phils.

AAA Norfolk 3, Lehigh Valley 5

RHP David Pauley: 7 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, BB, 4 K, L (5-5) (3.76 ERA)
CF Justin Christian: 2-3, R, RBI, 2 BB, 3 SB (20), double (13) (.252 AVG)
3B Brandon Pinckney: 3-4, R, double (1) (.250 AVG)

AA Bowie 5, New Britain 4

RHP Radhames Liz: 5 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 0 K, W (1-0) (7.20 ERA) – Liz was just demoted to Bowie from AAA Norfolk. I think its safe to say his prospect status is gone, unless he can turn it around at some point as a reliever.
DH Adam Donachie: 2-3, RBI, BB, 2 doubles (10) (.239 AVG)
1B Eric Crozier: 1-4, 3 run HR (2) (.250 AVG)

High A Frederick 12, Myrtle Beach 7

LHP Nathan Nery: 7 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 10 K, W (1-3) (4.44 ERA)
3B Brandon Waring: 3-5, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB, double (15), HR (13) (.275 AVG)
1B Robbie Widlansky: 4-5, R, 4 RBI, BB, double (8) (.412 AVG)
2B Bobby Stevens: 3-5, 4 R, RBI, HBP, double (5) (.306 AVG)
LF Tyler Henson: 3-6, R, 3 RBI, double (18) (.234 AVG)

A Delmarva 2, Hagerstown 4

CF Xavier Avery: 2-3, RBI, SB (19) (.278 AVG)

A Delmarva 6, Hagerstown 5

RHP Eddie Gamboa: 4 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 K (1.86 ERA)
SS Greg Miclat: 3-4, R, RBI, SB (9), 2 doubles (8) (.243 AVG)
LF Brendan Monaghan: 1-2, BB, 3 run HR (1) (.255 AVG)
RF Ronnie Welty: 2-4, R (.314 AVG)

Rich Hill got his 3rd win of the season.

Hill needed to come out and have a good start after his last 2 starts were awful and he couldn’t find any command. He accomplished that. The only runs he gave up came in the first inning, when he gave up two. He settled in after that and ended up going 6.2 innings, giving up those 2 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks with 5 strikeouts. He came out in the 7th after it looked like he might’ve tweaked his back. I hope its not serious because last night was an encouraging performance. Jim Johnson came in for Hill and got out of the inning plus the 8th as well. George Sherrill closed it out in a non save situation 9th.

The hitting continues its revival, scoring 7 runs on 10 hits last night. Matt Wieters got the Orioles on the board and tied the game at two in the 2nd inning with his 4th double of the year. Melvin Mora scored after he was hit by a pitch and Nolan Riemold scored after he also hit his 4th double of the season. Wieters would come around to score after Rich Hill helped his own cause with an RBI base knock. Aubrey Huff doubled (his 16th) in Nick Markakis, who had singled, to give the O’s another run in the 6th inning. And they busted it open in the 9th when Riemold led off with his 8th homerun of the season. Markakis hit his 20th double to score Oscar Salazar and Brian Roberts (who both singled) for the last runs of the game.

Player of the game: Nolan Riemold (2-4, 2 R, RBI, double (4), HR (8) (.291 AVG))

Tonight, we look to get the game in against the rain. Brad Bergesen (4-2, 3.79) would pitch for the O’s, J.A. Happ (4-0, 3.53) for the Phillies.

Matt Albers gets his first win of the year.

Jason Berken pitched his best game of the year through 5 innings, shutting out the Mets with 7 strikeouts. He got into trouble in the 6th and 7th, giving up 4 runs in his last 1.2 innings. He left the game with 8 strikeouts, giving up 7 hits and a walk. All in all it was a good effort and he should keep pitching every 5 days for the forseeable future. Danys Baez came in and let one of his inherited runners score before getting out of the 7th and then pitching a scoreless 8th. Matt Albers pitched a scoreless 9th, which turned out to be pretty important, seeing as the O’s came back and won the game in the bottom of the inning.

The Orioles took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 3rd when Robert Andino hit his first homerun of the season and of his Oriole career. In the 5th, Ty Wiggington hit one of his 2 singles and Matt Wieters followed it up with a single of his own. After a failed attempt at a sacrifice bunt, Brian Roberts doubled down the left field line (his 22nd of the year) to score another run. The Orioles didn’t respond to the Mets 4 runs until the bottom of the 8th when Aubrey Huff hit his 15th double of the season, Melvin Mora singled him to 3rd, and Luke Scott grounded out to score Huff and cut the lead to 4-3. With Francisco Rodriguez coming in to close the game, I’m sure most people figured it was over but not so fast. Wieters started the inning off with his 3rd double. Nolan Riemold pinch hit for Andino and worked a walk. Brian Roberts tried to sacrifice the runners over, the Mets tried to get Felix Pie (who had pinch ran for Wieters) at 3rd but he was flying andwas called safe. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Adam Jones walked to tie the game. Nick Markakis struck out before Huff came through for the second night in a row with the game winning hit. This time a line drive single into right field to end it in walk off fashion. It was the first time the Orioles won this year when trailing entering the 9th inning.

Player of the game: Aubrey Huff (3-5, R, RBI, double)

The O’s head to Philadelphia with some momentum on their side to take on the Phillies. Rich Hill (2-1, 5.81) needs a good start, and looks to get one against Antonio Bastardo (2-1, 5.25).

Jim Johnson got his 3rd victory pitching in relief. George Sherrill recored his 13th save.

Koji Uehara started and had a pretty standard performance for him. He pitched well, but could only go 5 innings in the process. He gave 7 hits and 2 runs, striking out 5. Koji could be a really good option out of the bullpen, either later in this season or next year. But for now, we’ll keep giving him starts. Brian Bass had a rough outing. He came in for the 6th and could only get 1 out before giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk. One of Bass’ earned runs came when Mark Hendrickson relieved him with the bases loaded and walked in a run on the first batter he faced. Hendrickson got out of the inning without giving up any more runs. Johnson came in and shut down the Mets for two innings, then Sherrill came in and got the save.

The big story on the offensive side was that Matt Wieters hit his first career Major League homerun. It was a 2 run shot in the 2nd inning to give the O’s a 3-1 lead. Wieters also walked in the game. Nick Markakis said “slump? what slump?” as he went 4 for 4 in the game. Aubrey Huff hit what ended up being the game winning homerun in the 7th, his 9th of the year. He also had an RBI single and a walk. Melvin Mora had a pair of singles and Nolan Riemold had a single and a walk. Adam Jones is the guy in a big slump now, but at least he worked a walk. The bats got the job done again last night, looks like we might be clear of that complete offensive funk.

Player of the game: Aubrey Huff (2-3, R, 3 RBI, BB, HR)

Tonight, Jason Berken (1-3, 7.32) goes up against Livan Hernandez (5-1, 4.33) in the series deciding game.

Jeremy Guthrie takes his 7th loss of the year.

Guthrie actually wasn’t as bad as his line looks. He was cruising along until the 4th when he walked the leadoff batter. Thats never a good idea. But he got a sharp ground ball right to Brian Roberts for an easy double play… except Roberts booted the ball and everyone was safe. So instead of 2 outs and nobody on, it was runners on first and second with no outs. The Mets went on to score 4 runs on a bunch of hits after that. He got through the 5th and 6th without any damage before running into more trouble in the 7th. He got Brian Scneider to ground out to start it off, but then gave up a single to Luis Castillo. That was it for Guthrie as Dave Trembley brought in Alberto Castillo. Castillo gave up back to back hits to load the bases, then Danys Baez was brought in. Baez got a ground ball force out at home then a pop up behind first base to end the…. oops, Huff dropped it. 2 more runs score. Baez eventually got out of the inning and the 8th. Matt Albers pitched a scoreless 9th.

Those runs the defense gave up were really important because the offense put up 4 runs, which should’ve been enough. Nick Markakis hit his 8th homerun of the season (and his first in 22 games) in the 6th to cut the Mets lead to 4-2. he also had a single in the game. In the bottom of the 9th with the O’s trailing by 4 runs, Melvin Mora and Luke Scott hit back to back singles to start it off. The Mets brought in K-Rod, their newly signed multi millionaire closer, in to finish the game. But he walked Nolan Riemold to load the bases before striking Matt Wieters out, then walking pinch hitter Ty Wiggington to bring in a run. Roberts grounded out, scoring another run, and stole 2nd base meaning Adam Jones could tie the game with a single. But he struck out and that was all she wrote. It was a nice comeback attempt, but the defense dug us in too deep of a hole.

Tomorrow night Koji Uehara (2-4, 4.37) gets back out there against Tim Redding (0-2, 6.18), an Oriole offseason target that thankfully didn’t sign here, for the Mets. I’ll go out on a limb and say we win this one.