Baltimore Orioles defeat Pittsburgh Pirates 8-6 in series opener – MLB Update
Baltimore Orioles defeated Pittsburgh Pirates 8-6 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland on Tuesday, June 12 in the opening game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
In a game that was important in many ways, the Orioles showed great courage and mental toughness to overcome the inform Pittsburgh Pirates.
Baltimore have been fighting hard for American League East Division’s first place since the start of the season. With Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees also looking in commanding form, the competition at the top of the table has remained fierce over the
last few weeks.
Triumphing against all the odds, Buck Showalter and his men are now tied at second place with the Rays on AL East standings.
With Pittsburgh leading 1-0 in the first inning, the Orioles regrouped themselves to stage an impressive comeback. Mark Reynolds showed great swinging powers as he homered to left in the second inning to put his side 2-1 ahead.
“He’s been inconsistent in his command his last two starts,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said of starting pitcher . “We’ve got him scheduled to pitch the last game in Cleveland (Sunday) but we need him to pitch better.”
“We have the option, if he doesn’t pitch better, to put him back in the bullpen,” Hurdle said of Brad Lincoln who gave up four runs and nine hits in just over four innings. “We just want to make sure he’s not out there to just pitch or pace himself. We need
to get him back on track to keep him in the rotation.”
“I didn’t have command of any of my pitches,” Lincoln said.
Adam Jones, who was having a quiet time at the plate, drove in a single and homered to left in the fifth to extend Orioles’ lead to 4-1.
J.J. Hardy also made his present felt by earning an RBI single to right in the sixth and Chris David hit a towering home run to right centre to put the lead beyond reach at 8-2.
Adding three more runs in the seventh and the ninth, the Pirates fought hard till the end but they were unable to come up with the winning formula.
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