Baltimore Orioles succumb to Los Angeles Angels 7-9 in series opener – MLB Update
Baltimore Orioles allowed five runs in the fourth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels grab a 9-7 win at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, California on Thursday, July 5 in the opening game of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Jim Thome put the Orioles on the board with an RBI single to right in the first inning but the Angels responded immediately to level the score 1-1 in the first.
Mark Reynolds, who has given impressive results this season, homered to left in the second inning to help Baltimore restore their one run lead. Ryan Flaherty also joined the party as he homered to left-centre in the second and Matt Wieters earned an RBI
groundout to short-stop to extend the Orioles’ lead 4-1.
Wieters continued to put pressure on struggling Angels’ pitching attack and he hit a three run home-run in the fourth inning to help his side establish complete control over the contest but the Angels were also determined to prevail in front of their home
crowd.
Orioles’ starting pitcher Jake Arrieta had a horrible time on the mound as he gave up five hits and six runs in just over three innings.
"Obviously I've struggled, and tonight was a good example of that," Arrieta said. "But there's nothing I can really do about it now. The first half of the season didn't go as planned. I've worked as hard as I could to be highly successful here, and it didn't
go that way. But you can't get too discouraged by it. You just have to keep plugging away."
"That's the most frustrating part of it -- when our guys give me a lead like that and I'm not able to get them back in the dugout quickly," he added
Short-stop Erick Aybar and Howard Kendrick made the most of available opportunities to help the Angels stay in the game. Mike Trout hit a sacrifice fly to centre and Torii Hunter singled to centre in the fourth inning to reduce Orioles lead to 7-6. Trout
stole third in the sixth and the Angels wrapped up an impressive victory.
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