Baltimore Orioles nab series as Wieters smashes walk-off grand slam against Tampa Bay Rays
The Baltimore Orioles were able to win the series against the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Thursday April 18, 2013 in the bottom of the tenth when catcher Matt Wieters went long with bases loaded. The match ended with Orioles winning 10-6.
The O’s were able to maintain their above .500 record as a result and currently have an 8-7 winning record.
The Baltimore ballclub was three runs down in the middle of the second but were able to make a comeback in the same innings with a three-run bottom of second.
They were leading with 6-5 at the completing of the seventh before the Rays were able to make a comeback and get the tying run in the eighth. Yet another game where the Orioles had the lead at the end of the seventh and which they eventually won.
The game went into the extra innings before Matt did what was necessary to win. The opening pitching from both sides was not as good as one would like to see and both gave away runs with relative ease.
Buck Showalter, the manager for the birds was happy with the performance. He was pleased with the fact that the team did well against David Price who is one of the better Rays’ pitchers. He was also content with making a comeback from being 3-0 down in the
game.
"It was a good game for us." Showalter said. "To beat them in the series at home, and we knew it was going to be a really tough challenge with Price out there. It was a good win, to be down, 3-0, there with Price and being able to figure out a way.”
The hero of the 10th innings, catcher Matt Wieters later shrugged off the lime light from himself. He said that he knew that even if he did not get the ball over the fence, it will still be enough to record the win since the bases were already
loaded.
"I felt it was going to go, but more importantly, I knew it was going to get the run, whether or not it went out," Wieters said. "I knew the game was going to be over. That's a good feeling, and now we'll move forward to tomorrow."
It is certainly concerning that Miguel Gonzalez, the starting pitcher for the O’s gave away too many runs early in the game. The offence has picked up recently and is no longer depending solely on Chris Davis or Adam Jones but the pitching needs to improve.
Overall the performance by the Orioles has been satisfactory. The team will certainly like to make some improvements in order to perform better overall and get in the same momentum as last year as the season moves forward.
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