Orioles Squander Their Opportunities
Burres Surrenders Six Runs in Fifth: Rays 6, Orioles 2

By Marc Carig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 14, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., April 13 -- The opportunities came rolling in like waves for the Baltimore Orioles, even after the Tampa Bay Rays chased starting pitcher Brian Burres with the kind of big inning that the Orioles would have loved to produce themselves.

Instead, they squandered opportunities. And predictably, the Orioles paid the price on Sunday afternoon, falling 6-2 to the Rays before 16,748 at Tropicana Field. The defeat dropped Baltimore to 2-4 on the two-city road trip and ensured a second straight series loss.

It would have been easy to pin the blame solely on Burres, who surrendered six runs in a disastrous fifth -- punctuated by B.J. Upton's three-run blast -- which came after four no-hit innings. But the real culprit was the Orioles' offense, which went 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base.

"When there's no outs or one out and you don't get it done, then when you get to two outs, there's a tendency to maybe expand the zone a little bit and start swinging at some pitches that maybe you don't want to," Orioles Manager Dave Trembley said "And I saw that again today."

The Orioles missed a big opportunity to rattle Rays rookie Jeff Niemann early in his major league debut after he allowed the first two hitters of the game to reach base. Tampa Bay shortstop Jason Bartlett compounded the problem with a throwing error that allowed the Orioles to load the bases with one out.

"I thought we had him right where we wanted him," Trembley said. "I thought the guy looked tentative, he was having problems getting his pitches across for strikes. We had the right guys up there. It would have been nice to put three on the board and I think that would have set the tone for the game."

Indeed, the Orioles set the tone when Aubrey Huff popped out and Luke Scott flied out to right, stranding all three base runners.

After dodging the bullet, Niemann settled into a rhythm. But it was in the seventh inning that the Orioles provided their most egregious example of futility with men on base. Rays right-hander J.P. Howell took over for Niemann -- who departed after allowing only one run, a Nick Markakis solo shot, in six innings -- though he provided little relief. The Orioles' first three hitters of the inning reached base before Rays Manager Joe Maddon pulled Howell.

Right-hander Dan Wheeler entered the game and promptly retired Melvin Mora before walking Markakis, which brought the Orioles within four runs. With the Orioles one swing from tying the game, Wheeler caught cleanup hitter Kevin Millar looking at a fastball over the outside corner for a critical strikeout.

With two down, and the left-handed Huff at the plate, Maddon tapped left-handed specialist Trever Miller to face his former teammate in Tampa and in Houston. And as he had done twice already in this series, Miller won the battle, striking out Huff on three pitches.

"This is a little bit of a new look for him for me at least," Huff said of Miller, who was effective when he dropped down to throw sidearm. "He just throws that slider, it starts behind you as a lefty and it's tough to pick up."

After loading the bases with no outs, the Orioles came away with just one run.

Baltimore managed to place a leadoff man on base in five innings but never made the Rays pay with a multiple-run outburst.

"We had chances to get back in it, didn't get the hits," Trembley said. "We've got to learn from it and we've got to get better, because these are the kind of games that you can get back in and you should win them."