Zach Britton shines as Baltimore Orioles defeat Boston Red Sox 4-1 – MLB Update
Zach Britton was too much for his rival line-up to be confidently tackled as Baltimore Orioles defeated Boston Red Sox 4-1 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore on Tuesday, April 26.
The 23-year-old Britton has singlehandedly given four victories to the Orioles in the last nine matches he has played. Britton established his ascendancy as an effective pitcher against a strong side, the Boston Red Sox. The precocious talent, from his last
night’s performance, is poised to prove his mettle.
"I really don't get that nervous out there," Britton said. "I don't know what it is. It's not that I have a huge ego or anything. I have a lot of confidence that I can get out of the jams, and if I'm out there getting all worried I think the situations blow
up. So I try to take my time and take a couple breaths and get after it."
The six stormy innings that he pitched, Britton gave up only one run, clearly outrivaling Clay Buchholz who was hardly in form. Buchholz must have felt uneasy about it partly because Britton is not in possession of enviable experience and limelight that
the former has got. So he naturally had to come forward to defend himself. "I thought I threw the ball better tonight than I did in the earlier game (against Oakland) when I got a win out of it," Buchholz said. "I felt like I was throwing all my pitches for
strikes. They sat back and hit a couple of good curve balls."
Boston seemed to have revived their transcendence back after quick wins in succession, but this defeat served as a big blow. Tuesday night’s game began with Britton shining like an illuminating star. He threw the first shut-out inning followed by Buchholz’s
venture into making his mark too. Clay gave up a hit, but did not let Baltimore open their account.
After the scoreless first inning, Matt Wieters scored the first run for the Orioles. Buchholz got three hits in the inning, one of which allowed Wieters to reach on infield single where Luke Scott scored. Baltimore doubled the score in the third inning with
Adam Jones sacrifice fly to right, perfected by Derrek Lee’s score.
Boston’s offence only once seemed in business when Kevin Youkilis hit a sacrifice fly to centre, bringing the score to 2-1. Britton then did not falter, as he kept up the pace and pitched with the speed of an unplayable pitcher. Baltimore, on the other hand,
did not stop taking up the lead when Adam Jones made it 3-1 in the fifth inning. Jones hit to centre where Lee scored. Mark Reynolds scored the fourth run for Baltimore which remained an unsurpassable lead up until the last inning. Kevin Gregg pitched a shut-out
ninth inning to win a comfortable 4-1 victory for Baltimore.
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