NOTES: By virtue of their 11-3 win on Saturday, the Orioles clinched the season series with the Tigers, which could prove to be an important achievement.
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Sixteen of the 28 have happened in innings four through six.
“Offense is cyclical, and we are in a little bit of a funk right now, but you also have to give credit to the Baltimore pitchers”, Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. “I’ve pitched twice in two or three months, and had two short outings, so it has been really, really frustrating for me”.
Still, he kept the Tigers in the game – and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. “Guys are going to hit the ball well sometimes – and if they leave the yard, so be it”.
None of those hopes were realized.
Tigers: Jordan Zimmermann, hit hard Saturday in his return from a neck injury, will not make his next start Thursday against Minnesota.
After an easy first two innings, Verlander started to labor in the third, giving up a double to Orioles’ No. 9 hitter Caleb Joseph, the home run to Bourn, a single to Manny Machado and a walk to Chris Davis.
Verlander allowed three runs and seven hits in his second loss since the All-Star break. Cabrera is 4-for-24 (.167) with two home runs against the Orioles. Forget waiting for him to retire…after going 6-for-11 with a homer and three RBI versus Detroit, Jones now owns a sparkling.339 average with 16 runs, six home runs and 17 RBI over his last 30 contests. He threw 42 pitches and faced 10 batters.
While the epic series finale on Sunday revolved around the return of Orioles ace Chris Tillman, who allowed just a single run on four hits over six innings while racking up four K’s, the MVP of the game goes to O’s newcomer Michael Bourn. The Boston Red Sox (79-62) lead Baltimore in the AL East by only two games. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow and the next day, and whether we need to give him an extra day next time out. “I felt fine physically, but I couldn’t locate any of my pitches”. Santana tossed seven innings of one-run ball in a 4-1 over the Tigers at CoPa on July 20.
Between his stints on the disabled list, Zimmermann has an 8.84 ERA in eight starts since the beginning of June.
Zimmermann signed a five-year, $110 million deal in the off-season.
Trumbo didn’t have much to say about it after the game.
The adrenaline of September baseball is starting to flow, and the roller coaster has only just begun to churn the engines…but with just 20 games left remaining on the calendar, the Orioles are starting to solidify their claim for a postseason ticket and as long as they stay the course, they should reach their destination one way or another. His two-run shot off Verlander in the third opened the scoring.
Baltimore now trails the Boston Red Sox by two games in the American League East division and are hanging on to the second wild card spot with a one-game lead over the New York Yankees and Tigers, entering Sunday’s slate of games.
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Yoenis Cespedes grand slam helps the Mets maintain a one half game lead for the final wild card spot.
