Baltimore Orioles secure narrow 4-3 win against Cleveland Indians – MLB Update
Baltimore Orioles extended their winning streak to five games as they secured narrow a 4-3 win against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio on Sunday, July 22 in third game of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball
regular season.
J.J. Hardy had another decent outing as he homered to left in the first inning and Nick Markakis scored to put the Orioles 2-0 ahead. Short-stop Hardy had an RBI single in the seventh and Ryan Flaherty scored to extend Orioles’ lead to 3-0.
Wilson Betemit added a solo home-run in the eighth inning to put the Orioles in a commanding 4-0 position. Credit should be given to the Indians for showing great fighting skills in closing stages of the game but Baltimore hung on to clinch a thriller.
Carlos Santana homered to right and designated hitter Travis Hafner singled to right in the bottom of the ninth but the Indians were unable to cross the winning line.
"We continue to struggle offensively, but the sun is going to come up tomorrow," manager Manny Acta said in a post game interview. "We still have over 60 games to go. Things can change in a heartbeat. Every day is a new day."
Orioles’ starting pitcher Zach Britton grabbed his first win of the season after he gave up just four hits in six effective innings. His counterpart from the Indians, Josh Tomlin gave up two runs and eight hits in his six innings.
"Luis pitched really well, he just ran out of gas," Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter said of relief pitcher Luis Ayala. "We had our work cut out for us that inning against some good hitters."
Buck Showalter and company humiliated their opponents in series opener, scoring ten runs to secure an easy win. Showing great determination, temperament and composure, the Orioles prevailed 3-1 in Game 2.
With their win on Sunday evening, Baltimore took an impassable 3-0 series lead and it will be interesting to see if they can continue their domination in the finale to earn a rare series sweep at Progressive Field.
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