I've said it before, and I'll say it again; Brad Bergesen (and Chris Tillman) is very good at pitching a gem when he needs it the most. With Brian Matusz set to return to the starting rotation sometime in the near future, Bergy's spot might well be in jeapordy. So what did Bergesen do? He went out and beat the high-flying Tampa Rays yesterday at Tropicana Field 6-0. Not only did Bergesen pitch a complete game, but the Orioles became the first team this season to shutout Tampa. Bergesen's line: 9 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K. The key to this game for Bergesen was not having to pitch from behind in the count. He immediately got ahead in counts, and suddenly the Tampa hitters found themselves playing catch-up. Aside from the four hits and one walk, they weren't able to get there.
Yesterday I said that Jeremy Guthrie was the ultimate team player by pitching a complete game in a losing effort. Bergy sure channeled that energy (in a winning effort) in yesterday's game. Not only is that two straight days of rest for the Oriole bullpen, but if you go back to Thursday night's extra inning win against Seattle the O's used the bullpen very sparingly. Again, the Orioles will head to Boston following today's rubber match with the Rays. For those that didn't see last night's Red Sox/Yankees game on FOX, Josh Beckett only went six innings, which means that the Red Sox used their bullpen in the later innings of the game. Given that they play the Yankees again this evening on Sunday Night Baseball, that probably means that their pen will have even less rest going into the series with the O's.
This game was a Revenge of the Fallen of sorts for a few different players. Not only did Bergesen pitch the game of his life when he needed it the most, but Mark Reynolds raised his average to .180 with his 5th inning home run off of Wade Davis. If Reynolds wasn't the Orioles' everyday third baseman, I would have questioned whether or not he remembered where third base was located. To top it off, Jake Fox followed that up with a homer in the sixth inning with a runner on base. You might remember that Fox only made the team out of spring training due to the fact that he led the majors with ten homers in spring training. Of late, he's been the target of some message board/blog venom, and even Buck Showalter has described some poor pitch sequences in games that Fox has caught. However that's all forgotten for one day, as were Reynolds' woes.
This was a huge win for the Orioles mentally moreso than anything else. After being swept by the Rays last week at home and then watching their bats go lifeless in game on of this series, the Orioles needed this win to prove to themselves that they could beat this team. While watching the game I immediately saw that Tampa starter Wade Davis was all over the plate. The O's obviously noticed the same thing right off the bat, as they put up double-digit hit totals. Remember that after the Orioles leave Tampa they have two with Boston and two with NY (before the schedule gets a bit easier so to speak). If they could manage to take this afternoon's rubber game with Tampa to get this stretch off to a good start, they'd do themselves a lot of favors.
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