Thursday, April 21, 2011

Britton Starts Winning Streak

It's official. The O's losing streak has come to an end and a winning streak has begun...

The Orioles held on to defeat the visiting Minnesota Twins 5-4 on Wednesday night, winning their second straight game after an eight-game slide.

Zach Britton allowed the Twins to strike early, giving up a solo homer in the second inning before the Bird's bats backed him up with four runs in the bottom half of the frame. The O's tacked on another run in the third, and Britton settled down to keep the Twins off the board before surrendering two more runs in the sixth.

Britton (3-1) allowed three runs off five hits and three walks over six innings while striking out three, and now leads the club in wins, ERA (3.16) and strikeouts (17). It's still extremely early, but Britton looks like a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year after his first four starts...

It was nice to see the offense step up after Britton put the team in a small hole...Vladimir Guerrero and Luke Scott started the second inning with back-to-back singles before Adam Jones' double sent them both home. Matt Wieters followed with a two-run blast to give the Birds a 4-1 lead. Wieters has been unstoppable so far this year with runners in scoring position, going a perfect 6-for-6 with 10 RBIs. Guerrero homered in the third inning, his third long ball of the season and second in as many nights...

That was all the O's offense managed on Wednesday night, but it was all they would need after Jim Johnson pitched a perfect seventh inning in relief of Britton. Koji Uehara allowed a run in the eighth but Kevin Gregg worked a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the victory for the Orioles.

The Birds look to take the series against the Twins on Thursday night...Jeremy Guthrie takes the mound and needs to rebound after his worst performance so far this season...Let's Go O's!!!

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