Of all the things that happened in the Orioles' 18-10 loss to the Boston Red Sox Sunday in a game that seemed like it would never end, this sequence was the most deflating for the home team.
The Orioles scored six times in the bottom of the third inning to get back within a run in a game that, just minutes earlier, they seemed hopelessly out of. When they came back to the plate for the bottom of the fourth, their deficit had suddenly ballooned to eight.
"There's that song, 'Momma said there'd be days like this.' She definitely forgot to tell us how many of there is going to be," said Orioles third baseman Ty Wigginton, appropriately summing up the feelings in the home clubhouse after a game that lasted three hours and 46 minutes and featured 38 combined hits, 13 walks and a total of 372 pitches by 10 hurlers.
The announced crowd of 43,115 on a muggy Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards got quite a display of shoddy pitching from both sides, but as is usual in their matchup against the Red Sox, the Orioles were completely overmatched. All six pitchers that manager Dave Trembley used gave up at least a run and two hits.
"The amount of runs and hits they got speaks for itself for what the problem was," Trembley said. "To say that we didn't pitch well would be an understatement."
Rookie starter Jason Berken was punished the most as he allowed six runs in just 1 1/3 innings, losing his ninth straight decision and watching his ERA balloon to 6.93. It was a performance that may have cost him his spot in the rotation.
The brave and now extremely tired souls that followed Berken - Brian Bass, Matt Albers, Mark Hendrickson, Cla Merideth and finally Jim Johnson - combined to allow 12 earned runs, 16 hits and five walks while striking out just three in 7 2/3 innings. It's never a good sign when the team's closer, Johnson, who pitched the ninth just to get some work in, gets only one fewer out than the team's starter.
"There's so much on that starting pitcher," said pitching coach Rick Kranitz. "He's got to set the tone. And if the starting pitcher doesn't set the tone, those relievers come in and the hitters are swinging out of their [backsides]. That's all they did. They just swung out of their [backsides]. And when our relievers came in, they paid for it."
