Sacrifice Fly

ST. LOUIS - - Some things never change. Presidents appearing at the national pastime's All-Star Game, muggy-warm baseball nights in St. Louis and, of course, the American League winning. The unbeaten streak reached 13 on Tuesday night - meaning the AL will have home-field advantage, again, in the World Series - with a 4-3 victory over the National League before an announced 46,760 at Busch Stadium. So it's possible the White Sox could host the Cubs in a Chicago showdown and President Barack Obama might be there to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, as he was Tuesday night.

Lee Lawler pitched two innings of scoreless relief and scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning to lift Reservoir to a 5-4 win over Chesapeake-Anne Arundel on Wednesday night in the District V title game at Hanover's Joe Cannon Stadium. Before the beginning of the 10th, athletics and activities managers from each county decided that the game would end after the inning, regardless of the score, out of consideration for the young athletes. Lawler struck out four without allowing a base runner to earn the win for the Gators (17-0, 20-0)

Megan Lucks scored off Diane Caporaletti's sacrifice fly to right field in the bottom of the seventh inning to give No. 11-ranked Wilde Lake a 3-2 softball win over No. 14 River Hill yesterday.River Hill (6-1, 4-1) had tied the game with two runs in the sixth. Wilde Lake (5-0) loaded the bases in its half of the sixth with no outs, but a forceout at home and a double play got Hawks pitcher Shannon Jackson out of the jam.Lucks led off the seventh and reached second on a throwing error. Lindsey Smardon's single moved Lucks to third before she scored the game-winner.

Orioles reliever Jason Berken made six quality pitches to get out of a major jam in the ninth inning He then made four poor pitches to start the bottom of the 10th, and it ultimately cost the Orioles the game. Berken's leadoff walk of Alex Gordon set the stage for Jeff Francoeur's game-winning sacrifice fly as the Kansas City Royals prevailed, 6-5, in 10 innings Tuesday night in front of an announced 11,986 at Kauffman Stadium. It was the second straight loss for the Orioles (13-15)

They scored a go-ahead run on a strikeout, avoided a potentially ruinous rally on a line drive that hit a runner, and finally won in the bottom of the ninth inning on Fernando Lunar's sacrifice fly to second base. The Orioles did all of those things to beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2, before an announced crowd of 41,959 at Camden Yards. And Cal Ripken bunted twice. Just as unusual as pinch runner Brady Anderson tagging from third base for the winning run against retreating Twins second baseman Luis Rivas, Ripken's two bunt attempts - once mistakenly on a 3-1 count and another against a left-handed pitcher - confirmed what was already known to be a shifting role.

The roost atop the Central Maryland Conference softball standings just got a bit more crowded. In a matchup between the top two teams in the conference, senior shortstop JoAnnah Jennings' sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh inning was all visiting Westminster needed to upend ninth-ranked North Carroll, 2-1, yesterday in Hampstead. With the victory, the Owls (6-2 overall, 5-1 conference) moved up to share the conference lead with the Panthers (7-1, 5-1). The loss also prevented North Carroll from winning its eighth consecutive game.

The Orioles rallied in the ninth inning for the second time in three games against Toronto last night to defeat the Blue Jays, 11-10, before 45,955 at Camden Yards.Bobby Bonilla delivered the decisive blow, a sacrifice fly to shallow left field that scored Brady Anderson with the winning run. Roberto Alomar, who didn't start because of his sprained left ring finger, had tied the game at 10 with a sacrifice fly three batters earlier.The Orioles blew an early 7-3 lead and lost an 8-7 advantage in the eighth inning, but Toronto's Mike Timlin (0-3)

Bobby Bonilla's perpetual smile had turned into a frown by the fifth inning last night. Bonilla had several good swings in his first two at-bats with nothing to show for it, other than a bruised helmet -- Bonilla had popped himself on the head with the handle of his bat as punishment.But Bonilla would smile again, a big, wide Bobby Bo smile. His two-out, three-run triple in the sixth erased a 3-0 Chicago lead, and his 10th-inning single set up the winning run as the Orioles outlasted the Chicago White Sox, 7-6, with Eddie Murray's sacrifice fly scoring Rafael Palmeiro with the game-winning run.A crowd of 46,453 at Camden Yards heartily approved, as the Orioles, with their fifth straight victory, increased their lead in the wild-card race to 1 1/2 games over the White Sox. The Orioles are still 2 1/2 games behind New York in the AL East race.

NEW YORK - On a night of firsts, the Orioles staged a come-from-behind victory over the New York Yankees last night, leaving them a dilemma on how to share the souvenir baseball. Rick Bauer earned his first major-league victory, Jorge Julio earned his first major-league save, and none of that would have happened had David Segui not hit his first home run of the season. Tony Batista's eighth-inning sacrifice fly gave the Orioles the lead, and Julio recorded the final five outs for a 5-4 victory at Yankee Stadium.

BOWIE -- Orioles prospect Eddy Garavito hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to carry the Bowie Nationals over the Frederick Regiment, 7-6, in the Maryland Fall Baseball League last night.Pub Date: 9/24/98

SAN FRANCISCO — Five days after their initial encounter, Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay will go at it again. This time, with even more at stake. Halladay will be pitching in Game 5 Thursday to extend the Phillies' postseason after the Giants' walk-off 6-5 victory Wednesday. Juan Uribe's ninth-inning sacrifice fly scored Aubrey Huff to give the Giants a 3-1 lead in the National League Championship Series. Huff reached on a one-out single and moved to third on Buster Posey's single, his fourth hit of the game.

The Orioles sent several of their top young pitching prospects to the mound Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays and came away with a 4-3 victory at Charlotte Sports Park. It wasn't the prettiest display of pitching prowess, but Jake Arrieta, Steve Johnson, Pedro Beato and Eddie Gamboa kept the Orioles in the game against a very representative Rays lineup in spite of some difficult innings. Arrieta had a rocky first, giving up three hits, including a two-run homer by Evan Longoria, but settled down to prevent any further scoring through the fourth inning.

ST. LOUIS - - Some things never change. Presidents appearing at the national pastime's All-Star Game, muggy-warm baseball nights in St. Louis and, of course, the American League winning. The unbeaten streak reached 13 on Tuesday night - meaning the AL will have home-field advantage, again, in the World Series - with a 4-3 victory over the National League before an announced 46,760 at Busch Stadium. So it's possible the White Sox could host the Cubs in a Chicago showdown and President Barack Obama might be there to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, as he was Tuesday night.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Right-hander Daniel Cabrera has been nearly unstoppable for the Orioles through the first two months of the season. Last night, he was utterly hittable, delivering his worst statistical performance since his initial 2008 start as the Orioles lost, 7-5, to the Minnesota Twins. The Orioles (28-30) have dropped nine of their past 10 to Minnesota. It was a night filled with highlight-reel moments, from an incredible diving catch with the bases loaded to a towering upper-deck home run to a two-run sacrifice fly courtesy of a fallen outfielder.

APPLETON, Wis. --In the second longest game in tournament history, Matt Benchener doubled in the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning to lift Johns Hopkins over Adrian, 3-2, in the first round of the NCAA Division III College World Series yesterday. The Blue Jays (39-6) won their fifth straight game and advanced to face Chapman in the second round today at 5:30 p.m. Tony Margve led off the inning with a single up the middle and scored Benchener's hit down the right-field line.

As long as the Orioles are winning - and they're still three games above .500 after yesterday's loss - second baseman Brian Roberts won't let his slump affect his outlook on the season. But it had become more of a burden until finally beginning to ease up a little yesterday. Roberts was 1-for-23 before being credited with a single in the sixth inning on a blistering one-hopper that eluded New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. He also lined out to right field in the eighth, allowing Guillermo Quiroz to tag at third base and score the Orioles' only run. "It's not fun when you're not playing up to your capabilities, but when your team is still winning, that certainly helps," said Roberts, whose average has fallen from .327 to .247 in the past six days.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Mark Hendrickson (4-7) threw seven solid innings and Jonny Gomes hit a two-run double for Tampa Bay. The Devil Rays scored four runs in the third inning to take a 5-0 lead. Gomes' hit was followed by a sacrifice fly from Toby Hall and Julio Lugo's RBI single. Hendrickson stopped a personal four-game losing streak.

It wasn't about rivalry or even revenge. For the home team, the first regular-season baseball game here between the Washington and Baltimore franchises since 1971 had nothing to do with the club in the visiting dugout. It was all about the collective psyche of the Orioles, who were coming off a stunning loss on Thursday when the bullpen couldn't hold a four-run, ninth-inning lead and Todd Williams couldn't throw a pitch wide enough for an intentional walk. Nobody felt any worse about the loss than Chris Ray, who symbolized the resilience of the Orioles on Friday night.