W – Rafael Perez (4-2, 7.57) L – Chris Ray (0-2, 6.10) SV – Chris Perez (2)
Chris Tillman was cruising along, pitching well, until the rains came and caused a 90 minute rain delay. Tillman couldn’t come back after the lengthy delay and his day was done at 5 innings. He gave up a run on 6 hits and struck out 2 batters. The only run he gave up came on a solo homerun. He was at 90 pitches after 5, so he couldn’t have gone too much farther into the game, but he would’ve at least started the 6th inning. And thats where we lost the game when Chris Ray came in after the game resumed. Its impossible to say what Tillman would’ve done, but we know Ray didn’t get the job done. He gave up a 3 run homerun to give Cleveland the lead and they never looked back. Brian Bass pitched the next 2 innings and gave up another run. Cla Meredith pitched a scoreless 9th to keep it close.
Adam Jones made his return to the field known right away. In the top of the 1st he made a great catch leaping at the wall to rob Asdrubal Cabrera of extra bases. Then in the bottom of the 1st he worked a walk in a great at bat and scored when Nick Markakis doubled. He also made another sensational catch to rob a homerun in the 9th inning. In the bottom of the 5th the rain started to get really bad. Ty Wiggington singled to lead off the inning, Chad Moeller sacrificed him to second, and Brian Roberts grounded out. With the rain in a torrential downpour, Cesar Izturis tripled to score Wiggington and give the O’s a 2-1 lead. It was just in time because as soon as the play was over, the umpire called for the tarp to be placed on the field. We scored another run in the 7th when Moeller hit a solo homerun.
Player of the game: Chad Moeller (2-2, R, RBI, HR (2) (.250 AVG))
The O’s will go for the series split this afternoon. We’ll rely on Brian Matusz (2-2, 6.46) to get the job done. Justin Masterson (4-5, 4.47) pitches for Cleveland.
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