July 21, 2012|By Dan Connolly
It was his second quality start and the Orioles' third straight. The team hadn't had three consecutive quality starts since May 25-27. It's been an impressive run for Gonzalez, who spent parts of six seasons in the minors and also missed two full years of affiliated ball. He was signed as a minor league free agent in March.
“When you come from where Miguel has come from to get on the page, he's not going to take anything for granted,” Showalter said. “And he's going to take advantage of every opportunity and that was more of it than anything.”
Reliever Matt Lindstrom picked up the last out in the seventh but was forced to leave with two outs in the eighth when Damon hit a liner just above and to the side of Lindstrom's left knee.
“Johnny gave me a souvenir. Got the laces tattooed on the inside of my knee,” Lindstrom quipped. “I'm fine. They evaluated me in the training room. And just got to ice it and keep some pressure on it to keep the swelling down. So I'm walking around fine.”
Suddenly, after losing four of their first five in the second half, the Orioles seem to be OK again, too.
“We've won three in a row. Now [Saturday] is key,” Thome said. “This was a good win, a good way to start here.”
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