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Extra Innings Still Mean One Thing -- an O's Loss
Baltimore left-fielder B.J. Surhoff dives into the stands for a foul ball, Monday. The Orioles are up-ended by Oakland, 10-5, as the A's complete a four-game sweep.
(Joe Giza - Reuters)
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Johnson reached third base, but he didn't have to go that far. Swisher, the No. 8 batter, followed by smashing a 2-2 fastball well over the right field scoreboard for a two-run homer.
Marco Scutaro and Jason Kendall then followed with singles and both scored when Mark Ellis hit a three-run homer, which ended Julio's evening.
In the past two games, Julio has allowed eight runs on five hits and has retired six batters. Over his past 30 games, Julio, once the Orioles' most promising bullpen prospect, has allowed runs 12 times and has a 9.10 ERA.
He said his ineffectiveness this season stems from not having a defined role. After having h is closer duties taken from him prior to this season, Julio has entered games at various stages. He said it is impossible to be prepared.
"Right now, I don't know my role," Julio said. "I don't know anything. Last year, I knew my role. I was ready to go. My role was closing."
The Orioles had a chance to end the game before extra innings. With the game tied at 5, Friere led off the eighth with a double and Matos entered as a pinch runner. David Newhan reached on a sacrifice bunt that moved Matos to third. Catcher Sal Fasano then hit a weak grounder up the middle that Scutaro fielded cleanly, stepped on second and fired to first for the double play.
Matos stayed at third. Brian Roberts followed with a groundout to second to end the inning.
Third base coach Rick "Dempsey told me to let it go through," Matos said, "so that's what I did. In that situation, you need to do what your third base coach wants you to do.
"I know all the fans were booing me, but I just did what I was told to do."
Perlozzo was not happy, either.
"I coached 14 years over at third," he said. "That's an automatic to me. . . . I guess I didn't relay that well enough."
