Francisco Liriano and the Pirates (18-26) were cruising along with a 1-0 lead until Chris Davis –three home runs on the night — led an Orioles (23-20) offensive attack to a 9-2 beating of the Bucs on Tuesday night.
Liriano had allowed two hits through the first three innings while striking out three before losing control of his pitches in the fourth. Chris Davis started the scoring by reaching via an infield single and scoring on a J.J. Hardy RBI single. Nelson Cruz would also score in the inning when Liriano allowed a walk to Caleb Joseph with the bases loaded.
The struggles would continue in the fifth for Liriano When Manny Machado led off the inning with an infield hit. Adam Jones followed with a RBI double over the head of Starling Marte. Jones then scored on a Chris Davis shot into the Clemente seats and Cruz immediately followed with a solo-homer into the centerfield seats to make it 6-1.
“I was leaving too many pitches over the middle of the plate,” said Liriano. “I was missing my spots a lot and I couldn’t repeat two good pitches in a row.”
Davis later added his second homer of the night in the seventh off of Jared Hughes and third off of Jeanmar Gomez in the ninth. It’s the first time this season that Davis has felt like a complete hitter.
“There were some things I was trying to work on since I’ve been back [from the DL],” said Davis. “Trying to get my hands and my back side sync’d up and really hitting in one piece instead of my hands going forward and my lower half not doing anything. I got here early today and worked on some stuff in early-BP and it just sometimes clicks for you and today was one of those days.”
Andrew McCutchen provided a RBI single in the third and Ike Davis added a homer for the Pirates in the seventh off of Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez.
“I’ve been around too long to get too high or get too low,” said manager Clint Hurdle. “As I said before the game, this one is done. We’re well-aware of what we didn’t get done tonight, what ground we have to cover to get better. We’ve just got to go do it. Tomorrow’s a fresh start. The challenge at this level is when things aren’t going well, you’ve gotta keep your confidence-level high.”
Final Score: Orioles 7, Pirates 2
Starters Lines
Liriano (L, 0-4): 5 IN, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K’s, 2 HR. 99 Pitches (61 Strikes).
Gonzalez (W, 2-3): 6 1/3 IN, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 K’s, 1 HR. 100 Pitches (71 Strikes).
These two will finish up this quick two-game series tomorrow night.
Tomorrow’s Starters
(LHP) Wandy Rodriguez (PIT): 0-2, 6.84 ERA
(RHP) Chris Tillman (BAL): 4-2, 3.34 ERA
First pitch is set for 7:05.
(Photo Credit: Winslow Townson / Getty Images)
