Baltimore Orioles down Tampa Bay Rays 7-4 to start off the season in style - MLB News
The Baltimore Orioles showed their skills in the opening game against the Tampa Bay Rays at the latter’s home Tropicana Field in front of a sellout crowd and went 1-0 to kick off the regular season with a 7-4 win.
Much of the offseason was filled with talks that the 2012 Orioles performance was a one off fluke and there have been plenty of predictions of a familiar bottom of the table finish for the birds in 2013. However, the boys in orange are not too bothered about
what they think and are more focused on the game.
Such sentiments were echoed by the starter Jason Hammel who opened a season for the first time. He said that there were very little changes in the team from last year.
"For all the things that happened outside the clubhouse, we come out; we barely changed the team this year. Same lineup, except for a couple of guys,” Jason said.
He also said that the team has its own expectations and they are looking to go all the way in the season and give it their best. In the process, the players intend to have some fun.
"It's something we're proud of. We're going to continue to play hard. It was [No.] 1 of 162. We'll come back tomorrow and continue to do it. We're just having fun, and really, we have our own expectations," Jason said.
The game was quite good for Jason Hammel who threw down six innings to give away a total of three hits and equal number of runs.
The O’s went up by two runs in the opening innings courtesy of a two-run homer by Matt Wieters. However, the Orioles were 3-2 down at the top of the seventh. Rays at the point would have hoped for a close victory but instead a five run seventh inning all
but sealed the fate of the match.
It started with Adam Jones smashing an RBI double to left-centre field. Chris Davis’ three-run home-run further made the cause of the birds easier.
Jim Johnson who was the best closer of 2012 season, made his first save by throwing down a scoreless ninth.
Chris Davis, one of the heroes of the day believes that the Os have the ability to repeat the good work from last year.
"We feel that in-house, we have the same ability to do what we did last year," said Davis,
He also felt that the team is now more experienced that it was in the last season and has the ability to do well.
The O’s have made a positive start and crucially their batters have supported the pitching unit well. If this is the indication of things to come, the birds may just have another great season this year.
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