Jim Thome homers as Baltimore Orioles defeat Cleveland Indians 3-1 – MLB Update
Baltimore Orioles defeated the Cleveland Indians 3-1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday, July 21 in second game of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Without showing any sign of nerves, Buck Showalter and company prevailed in a low scoring encounter to improve their record to 50-44.
Right now, the Orioles are placed second on the American League East Division standings, just one game ahead of Tampa Bay Rays.
It will be interesting to see if they can produce similar performances on a regular basis to reach the playoffs for the first time in almost 12 years.
Indians have no one to blame except for themselves. They had several opportunities to put their opponents under pressure but they were unable to do so. Eventually, the Indians paid the ultimate price for wasting all those chances.
Shin-Soo Choo had another decent outing for Cleveland as he homered to right-centre in the first inning to put his side on top.
Orioles’ Designated Hitter Jim Thome produced a match winning performance as he homered to right in the seventh to change the complexion of the game.
With the score at 2-1 in the seventh, Ryan Flaherty rose to the occasion, hitting a mighty home-run to centre and the Orioles took a decisive 3-1 lead.
"There's a lot memories," Thome said. "I've had great memories on that side and then coming in here as an opponent against them. Any time you come home, they say, it's very special. It's even more special to get the W's. That's, I think, the main thing.
The bottom line is I played here a long time."
"He actually does a lot of things other than swing a bat and hit a ball where they can't catch it," Showalter said. "He just impacts a team so many ways. He walks through the door every day with a smile on his face.”
Starting pitcher Chris Tillman pitched six plus solid innings, giving up just a run with four strike-outs for his second win of the season. Relief pitcher Jim Johnson held off the Indians to get his 29th save of the year.
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