If you had asked me before the season began who the one player was that the Orioles could not win without, a slew of names would have come to mind.
J.J. Hardy was not one of them...
But after the Birds dropped their eighth straight game on Monday night, I can't help to wonder if the absence of Hardy has hurt this team in more ways than I thought possible. The O's have not won a single game since Hardy's injury...
The Birds started off the 10-game homestand with a promising start from Chris Tillman and a trio of home runs from the offense. It was all wasted in a 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins...
Tillman (0-2) went 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits while walking none and fanning five. He left with the O's trailing 3-0, yielding to Clay Rapada, who kept the Twins off the board, striking out three of the four batters he faced, while the Birds tried to mount a comeback...
Adam Jones and Matt Wieters both went yard in the bottom of the seventh, cutting the deficit to one run. The score remained 3-2 in favor of the Twins until Kevin Gregg took the mound in the ninth...Gregg walked two batters, allowed two hits and threw a wild pitch to give the Twins two insurance runs and ultimately the victory.
Luke Scott smashed a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, but it wasn't enough as the Birds dropped further in the standings with yet another loss.
It seems hard to believe that just last week, the Orioles were fighting for first place in the division. With a 6-9 record, the O's are now in fourth place, just a game out of the cellar in the AL East...
Jake Arrieta takes the mound Tuesday night...he'll have to step it up, but it's up to the offense to come out of this slump and support him with a few early runs. And they'll have to do it without J.J. Hardy in the lineup...
No comments:
Post a Comment