The Baltimore Orioles defeated the Detroit Tigers 4-3 Friday evening in Sarasota, FL. 7,709 fans were witness to the contest, the third sell-out of the Spring at Ed Smith Stadium, seeing the Orioles improve their record to 12-2.
Realizing that the Spring is more about the process rather than the final score, it still is good to see the Birds work through some adversity.
Starter and winning pitcher Grayson Rodriguez (1-0) pitched with traffic on the bases his entire appearance. He finished with a line of 3.1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 HR, 2 BB, 1 K and departed after allowing a homerun to Detroit’s Jake Rogers and two subsequent singles with one out in the fourth inning. Morgan McSweeney (0.2 IP, 1 K) relieved Rodriguez and restored order.
Craig Kimbrel (1.0 IP, 1 BB), Yennier Cano (1.0 IP, 2 K) and Jacob Webb (1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 K) held the Tigers in check until Cionel Perez (0.2 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 K) struggled. Bryan Baker (1.1 IP, 2 BB, 3 K) finished off the victory by striking out Detroit’s last two batters with two runners on base.
The Orioles used doubles by Heston Kjerstad (2 for 3, 2B, 1 R) and Gunnar Henderson (1 for 3, 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI) along with a Ryan Mountcastle (1 for 3, 1 RBI) single to take a 2-0 lead in the third inning.
In the sixth a walk by Austin Hays (0 for 1, 2 BB), singles by James McCann (1 for 3) and Kolten Wong (1 for 3, 1 RBI) and a Keider Montero wild pitch plated the final two Baltimore runs of the game. Dylan Beavers (0 for 1, 1 R) and Michael Perez (0 for 1, 1 R) pinch-ran for Hays and McCann respectively, and actually scored the runs.
Jackson Holliday went 0 for 3 with 1 K.