W – Jason Hammel (3-0)     L – Kyle Drabek (2-1)     SV – Pedro Strop (2)

- Hammel continues to make Dan Duquette look smart. Hes been fantastic over the first four starts of his Oriole career and that continued in this game. He kept the Blue Jays scoreless over seven frames, striking out seven batters, walking one, and giving up four hits. He seems like a good fit for Camden Yards with his heavy fastball which induces alot of ground balls. The other piece of that trade pitched a perfect 8th with two strikeouts to keep the shutout intact. Pedro Strop completed the shutout with his second save in as many days with Jim Johnson still in the hospital. Side note: Jeremy Guthrie is 2-1 with a 5.92 ERA for the Rockies.
- The offense did enough to win although they’re still not clicking on all cylinders. Wilson Betemit hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the 2nd inning. That was really all we needed with how well the pitching was but Chris Davis added a solo homerun of his own in the 4th and Adam Jones doubled in a run in the 8th for insurance. Mark Reynolds singled twice, Nick Markakis walked twice, JJ Hardy doubled, and Matt Wieters singled. Jones and Ryan Flaherty each also took a walk in the game.

Player of the game: Jason Hammel – 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, BB, 7 K, W (3-0) (1.73 ERA)

W – Tommy Hunter (2-1)     L – Henderson Alvarez (0-2)     SV – Pedro Strop (1)

- Last nights game went by pretty quick with not much offense from either team. Tommy Hunter labored a little bit to get through six innings but the only damage he gave up was a solo homerun in the top of the 3rd inning. He gave up three hits, walked three, and struck out three to earn the win. Troy Patton and Darren O’Day combined for a scoreless 7th, Luis Ayala tossed a scoreless 8th, and Pedro Strop earned his first career save by striking out two batters en route to a scoreless 9th. Jim Johnson was unavailable due to a bout with the flu. It was bad enough that he was hospitalized as a precaution so I doubt he’ll be available the next few days either.
- The Orioles had a great chance to jump out to a big lead in the bottom of the 1st when they loaded the bases with no outs. Endy Chavez led off with a single, JJ Hardy doubled, and Nick Markakis walked to open the inning. But only one run came in and that was on a double play grounded into from Adam Jones. The big hit came in the bottom of the 4th inning when Matt Wieters hit the eventual game winning homerun, a solo shot that hit off the left fielders glove before going into the stands. Other than that the only other baserunners came on a single and a walk from Wilson Betemit and a Jones single.
- Robert Andino will be out for a couple of days himself due to the birth of his third child. He’ll fly down to Miami to be with his wife. Meanwhile the Orioles have recalled RHP Jason Berken from AAA Norfolk to take his place on the roster. Berken was 0-0 with a 0.60 ERA in three starts with the Tide with 10 strikeouts and 4 walks. He’ll most likely be used in long relief for his latest stint with the O’s.
- Tsuyoshi Wada has suffered a set back in rehab stint after an MRA on his left elbow has revealed more damage than they initially thought. He’ll be shut down for a while. No word on the plan for him moving forward yet.

Player of the game: Matt Wieters – 1-3, solo HR (6) (.294 AVG)

Game two of the series sees two starters having great starts to the season in Jason Hammel (2-0, 2.37) for the Orioles and Kyle Drabek (2-0, 2.00) for the Blue Jays. Drabek looked great a couple weeks ago in a start against the birds.

W – Pedro Strop (2-1)     L – LaTroy Hawkins (0-1)     SV – Jim Johnson (7)

- It looked for a while like this was going to be another loss for the Orioles. The offense was getting handled by Dan Haren and the home plate ump had a huge strike zone, which seems like a trend this season. Luckily the pitching was on point today and Nick Markakis was there to drive in all three runs. He came up with a clutch two run single in the top of the 8th inning to give us the lead and hit in the eventual game winning run in during the 10th. On his first hit third base coach Demarlo Hale made a risky but crucial call to send the second runner. If he didn’t we would’ve lost. The offense was all singles today. Robert Andino had two, Endy Chavez, JJ Hardy, Adam Jones, Wilson Betemit, and Matt Wieters each had one. Jones stole his fourth base of the season. Betemit, Andino, and Chris Davis each walked.
- Wei-Yin Chen continues to be impressive to start his major league career. This time he was able to make it into the 7th inning. He was pulled with two runners on and one out but he only gave up one run on five hits and three walks and struck out five batters. He tired out but at least it was in the 7th instead of the 6th. Thats progress. Darren O’Day came in and got out of the jam with no problem. Pedro Strop gave up a solo homerun in the bottom of the 8th but settled down and got through two innings, striking out four. Jim Johnson closed it out with a scoreless 10th inning. Hes perfect in save opportunities so far this season.
- The Orioles head home off after going 6-4 on the road trip. Its their first winning road trip of 10 or more games since 2004. This was big win to get back some momentum heading into tomorrow’s day off.
- In other news, Josh Bell was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a player to be named later or cash considerations. The Orioles acquired Bell from the Dodgers along with Steve Johnson at the 2009 trade deadline for George Sherrill. He was considered one of our top prospects for a time before failing in both major league chances he got in 2010 and 2011. He fell off the radar once he reached AAA, never reaching his potential. Maybe a change of scenery will do him good but its a little depressing how little return we got on that investment.

Player of the game: Wei-Yin Chen – 6.1 IP, 5 H, ER, 3 BB, 5 K (2.60 ERA)

The Orioles get a much needed day off tomorrow before heading home to face the Blue Jays. Tommy Hunter (1-1, 5.79) gets his second crack at them against Henderson Alvarez (0-1, 4.66).

W – Jared Weaver (3-0)     L – Jake Arrieta (1-1)

- Arrieta looked like a true ace after the first four innings. He was matching Weaver pitch for pitch, mowing them down with a mid 90′s fastball and nasty curveball. For some reason something changed in the 5th and it all came crashing down. He gave up a lead off single, threw away a pick off attempt, and then threw a wild pitch. Seven of the next eight batters either singled or walked and all of a sudden the Orioles were down 5-2. Arrieta left with one out and the bases loaded. His final line could’ve been worse but Matt Lindstrom came in and got back to back soft ground balls back to the mound to get out of the inning with no extra damage. He also pitched a scoreless 6th. Luis Ayala gave up an unearned run in the 7th and Troy Patton pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
- Matt Wieters provided all of our offense last night. He hit a two run homer in the top of the 5th to give us a very brief lead. He also drove in a run on a ground ball out in the 7th inning. Other than that Weaver pretty much dominated, holding the O’s to five hits. Adam Jones singled and doubled. Nick Markakis and Robert Andino each singled. The offense is falling off a cliff at the end of this road trip. Nick Johnson is up to 0-23 on the season after last night.
- The defense made three errors for the second straight game. I think its safe to say that the defense just isn’t good on this team. To be honest I can’t remember the last time the Orioles had an above average defense overall. Its an important aspect of the game that we’ve seemed to ignore over the years.

Player of the game: Matt Wieters – 1-3, R, 3 RBI, HR (5) (.283 AVG)

The Orioles will try to avoid another sweep today and make it a winning road trip. It doesn’t get any easier with Dan Haren (0-1, 4.76) on the mound. Wei-Yin Chen (1-0, 3.27) will try to maintain his stamina past the 5th inning.

W – Jerome Williams (1-1)     L – Brian Matusz (0-3)     SV – Jordan Walden (1)

- Matusz’ line again doesn’t look good and he wasn’t great, but it seemed like every inning he had to get an extra out or two thanks to the defense. If it wasn’t an error it was a missed play that should’ve been made. Thats not a recipe for success. Brian gets his third straight loss to start the season after giving up six runs (four earned) on nine hits and three walks over five innings. He did strike out six batters and his fastball was hitting 93 mph at times. I still think he should be given through the rest of the month to try to straighten himself out. I feel like he needs some positive momentum to get on the right track mentally. Back to the game, Darren O’Day continued his excellent start to the season with two scoreless innings, recording four strikeouts. Luis Ayala pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
- We didn’t have much going offensively either. JJ Hardy drove in a run in the 3rd inning with a single. Nolan Reimold hit a two run homer in the 7th for our other runs. Reimold stayed red hot despite being in and out of the lineup with neck spasms. He also singled and doubled in the game. Nick Markakis singled twice and walked. Hopefully thats a sign of him snapping out of his funk. Our only other hit was a double by Chris Davis. Mark Reynolds walked twice.
- I must say this is a pretty extreme road trip, especially for this early in the season. Ten games in three time zones over ten days. The team must be feeling it by now. I’ll feel good if they can win one of the last two games to make it a winning trip. If we can return home over .500 we’ll be in pretty good shape to regroup.

Player of the game: Nolan Reimold – 3-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, double (4), HR (5) (.370 AVG)

Tonight its a battle of each team’s ace. Jake Arrieta (1-0, 2.66) pitches for the Orioles, Jared Weaver (2-0, 2.18) for the Angels. Should be a low scoring game.