O's Sloppy in Extra Inning Loss

The O's lost to Boston 5-2 in extra innings last night in front of a sell-out crowd at Camden Yards.

With the score tied at 2, the O's squandered an opportunity to win the game in the 12th. Kevin Millar failed to run out a routine ground ball, which was bobbled, and was thrown out at first. Had Millar run hard, the O's would have had the bases loaded with one out, and the outcome may have changed drastically...a fly ball could have won the game.

Instead, the O's committed three errors in the 13th inning, and allowed three unearned runs to cross the plate. The inning started off innocently enough, when David Ortiz popped-up in foul territory. Ramon Hernandez dropped the ball, and immediately images from the Mother's Day Massacre came to mind. Ortiz ended up being the first out, but two throwing errors later in the inning allowed the Sox to score three times and escape with a win in the first game of this series.

Daniel Cabrera pitched seven innings, allowing two runs off six hits, while walking two and striking out two. Both runs allowed came in the first inning; Cabrera buckled down after that and kept his team in the game. The bullpen held the Sox scoreless until the final inning.

The O's collected just eight hits, while striking out 17 times. Aubrey Huff hit a solo home run in the fourth to tie the game at two (Huff tied Markakis for the team lead in homers (9) and now leads the O's with 30 RBIs).

It was just one game, but the Red Sox didn't beat the Orioles; the Orioles beat themselves. There are still three games left in the series, and the Birds need to forget about this one and play hard later tonight. Garrett Olson (4-1) faces Jon Lester (3-3).