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On festive night, rain on O's parade

Storms cut short badly needed turn from Guthrie

Suspended in 6th Blue Jays 2 Orioles 1

July 24, 2008|By Roch Kubatko , Sun reporter

Meanwhile, Guthrie's fastball was hitting 96 and 97 mph on the stadium's radar gun in the early innings. His pitch count rose to 53 through the third, and he trailed 1-0 after consecutive singles by the last two batters in the lineup, Adam Lind and McDonald, and Marco Scutaro's ground ball.

By the end of the fifth, Guthrie had thrown 80 pitches and the bullpen remained quiet. But with the weather turning ominous, Alex Rios singled, stole second and scored on Overbay's single to center field. Overbay took second on the throw and moved to third on Rod Barajas' grounder to short, but he held on Matt Stairs' grounder along the third base line, which could barely be seen through the downpour.

"The rain wasn't a factor," Guthrie said. "Line drives were a factor."

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On a staff that's largely been unable to carry games into the late innings, Guthrie had gone at least six in 12 of his past 13 starts. He was poised to continue his personal trend. He just needed one more out.

"At least it's a start back in the right direction," Trembley said. "Guthrie was pitching very well and Burnett had everything going for him. It had the makings of a quality baseball game."

Then it stopped prematurely, leaving Guthrie to wonder whether he'll get a no-decision or a loss. And leaving the Orioles in a familiar predicament.

Their April 28th game against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field was suspended in the 11th inning with the score tied at 3. They'll resume play Aug. 25.

roch.kubatko@baltsun.com

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