Wright Is Hurt In Orioles' Loss
Pitcher Leaves With Shoulder Stiffness: Tigers 3, Orioles 1

By Jorge Arangure Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

BALTIMORE, April 10 -- The Baltimore Orioles' most significant loss on Tuesday night was not reflected on the scoreboard. With no outs and two men on in the sixth inning of a 3-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers, pitcher Jaret Wright stepped off the mound and winced in pain. Assistant team trainer Brian Ebel, along with Orioles Manager Sam Perlozzo, walked to the mound, where the Baltimore infielders gathered to tend to Wright.

After a few moments, Wright walked off the mound and into the clubhouse. An inning later, Baltimore announced that Wright had left because of stiffness in his right shoulder, a troubling injury for a player with a history of shoulder problems. He is scheduled to be examined Wednesday.

"We want to make sure he isn't lost for a longer period of time so we were pretty cautious with that one," Perlozzo said. "Hopefully, it's nothing serious and he could make his next start."

Wright's problems began in 1999. Shoulder surgery cost him most of the 2000 season. A second surgery in 2001 caused him to miss most of the 2002 season. Wright was healthy in 2003 and 2004, but missed more than half of 2005 because of shoulder problems.

"I think I'm smart enough now and I've dealt with enough. I know if I kept going that I could probably really hurt it," said Wright, who first began to feel tightness while warming up for the fifth inning. "So now I just wanted to give myself a chance to let the doctors work on it, and [trainer Richie Bancells] and those guys to see what we can do. . . . If it was routine, then I still would be out there throwing. It kept getting tighter. I just didn't want to keep pushing it like that."

Should Wright be forced to miss a lengthy amount of time, the Orioles likely would call up one of their prospects at Class AAA Norfolk, either Hayden Penn or Garrett Olson.

Of course, there was still the matter of the game being decided once Wright departed in the sixth with the score 0-0.

It didn't stay that way long, however. Not many middle-infield tandems turn a better double play than Miguel Tejada and Brian Roberts. So when a ball was hit to Tejada with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, the logical thought was that the Orioles had escaped a threat and would turn a double play. Tejada fielded the ball, flipped it to Roberts, who was then trampled by Tigers second baseman Placido Polanco.

Roberts's throw landed several feet in front of first baseman Kevin Millar, who couldn't glove the ball as it went past him into the dugout. That allowed two runs to score.

"I threw a ball in the dirt at the wrong time," Roberts said. "It's part of the game, unfortunately. I'd like to do it in an 8-0 game. It's one of those things that you made a bad throw and you move on."

The Orioles haven't had much success against Tigers left-hander Nate Robertson, who was 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA in three starts against them last season. The Orioles hit only .258 against lefties last season, sixth-worst in the majors. Tuesday night was no different, with Robertson (2-0) going 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out five. The Orioles' lone run came on Corey Patterson's first homer in the eighth of Joel Zumaya.

Before his injury, Wright had allowed no runs in five innings while striking out six. Including his starts in the spring, Wright had not pitched five innings this year.

On Tuesday, Wright had command of his curve and his fastball topped out at 91 mph.

"I thought the stuff was okay," Wright said. "I felt good. I thought we had three or four pitches to go to. It's just a shame it kept getting tighter."