Alex Cobb improved to 2-0 on the young season with another solid start as the Orioles beat the Cardinals 3-1 in a well played game in St. Louis.
Orioles News
Prior to today’s game, the orioles announced they had claimed right-hander reliever Wilmer Font from the Blue Jays and placed him on the 26-man roster. Left-handed reliever Paul Fry was optioned to Norfolk (AAA) after yesterday’s game.
Lineup vs RHP Carlos Martinez
- Hanser Alberto – 2B
- Rio Ruiz – 3B
- Anthony Santander – RF
- Renato Nunez – 1B
- Dwight Smith Jr. – LF
- Austin Hays – CF
- Chance Sisco – C
- Jose Iglesias – SS
- Alex Cobb – P
Starting Pitcher: Alex Cobb (1-0. 1.50)
The Cardinals got the scoring going in the bottom of the 3rd when Kolten Wong smacked a solo homer of starter Alex Cobb. Cobb, who singled in the previous inning, may have been tired from his running around the bases.
The Orioles got on the board in the top of the 4th when Renato Nunez collected a one-out double, and then moved to third after Dwight Smith Jr. was walked and Austin Hays hit by a Carlos Martinez fastball. Chance Sisco then hit a medium flyball to left field, but it was deep enough to score a tagging Nunez who was safe on a close play at the plate to make it 1-1.
In the top of the 6th, the Orioles took their first lead of the game when RF Anthony Santander went oppo when he took a Martinez 94 MPH fastball and deposited in the left field stands for his first home run of the year making it 2-1 Orioles. After getting Nunez to pop up, Smith Jr. smacked an opposite field double that ended the night for Martinez as the Cardinals brought in left-handed reliever Tyler Webb.
Webb ended up loading the bases with two outs, including pitching around 8th batter Jose Iglesias to bring up Cobb. (Note: This is why I hate NL baseball. It’s not strategy to pitch around the 8th batter and load the bases in order to bring up the starting pitcher). At just 72-pitches, Hyde decided to let Cobb bat for himself and he grounded back to the pitcher to keep it 2-1.
In the 7th, singles by Rio Ruiz (off a lefty) and Nunez put runners in 1st and 2nd with two outs when Smith Jr. laced a pitch to LF scoring Ruiz to make it 3-1.
In the bottom of the 7th, after getting two outs on strikeouts, Wong ended Cobbs night with his 3rd hit of the game with a double to left-center. Manager Brandon Hyde went to his bullpen and got Hunter Harvey to face Dexter Fowler. Harvey got the job done getting Fowler to fly out to RF on a 101 MPH fastball to keep the game 3-1.
That closed the night for Cobb who went six and two-third innings allowing just one earned run on seven hits and two walks while striking out four.
Both team went quietly in the 8th with Harvey sitting the heart of the Cardinals lineup down 1-2-3.
After the Orioles went quietly in the 9th, Mychal Givens was brought in to close out the game but things got hairy right from the start. Tommy Edman reached on an infield single that barely got past Givens and died before Iglesias could get the out. Givens then walked the next batter and Pedro Severino committed a passed ball to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs worse of all, the runner on second was the tie run.
Givens though settled down, struck out Yadier Molina and pinch hitter Tyler O’Neill before getting red hot Wong to ground out to second to end the game. Orioles win 3-1. Cobb was the winning pitcher and Givens picks up his first save of the year.
Orioles player of the game: Alex Cobb (6.2IP,1ER,4K, Win)
