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Orioles Again Conquer Okajima
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In the fifth inning, after Cabrera hit Dustin Pedroia with a pitch, J.D. Drew drilled a ball deep into the right field stands to give Boston a 5-4 lead. RamÃrez followed immediately with a solo shot over the Monster in left-center, moving him past Hall of Famer Eddie Murray for 23rd place on the all-time list with 505 homers while tying Tony Perez for 24th all-time in RBI (1,652).
"I didn't have my good stuff today," said Cabrera, who only once retired the leadoff man in an inning. "I battled for five innings. But we go out there and try to just win the game. That's the big thing, just win the game."
Then came Okajima, the same man who was on the mound when Jay Payton's seventh-inning grand slam May 14 completed the Orioles' come-from-behind win. He was the goat again June 2, when Adam Jones laced a three-run double in the eighth to lift the Orioles.
Against the rest of the American League, Okajima has yielded just one run in 22 2/3 innings, for a microscopic 0.40 ERA. But against the Orioles, Okajima has fared no better than a batting practice pitching machine stuck on "belt high."
"I have no idea why other people haven't [hit Okajima] and we have," said Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts, who drew a key walk against the pitcher in the seventh. "It's not like we're doing anything everybody else isn't trying to do."
Orioles hitting coach Terry Crowley said there is nothing different about his team's approach.
"We try to get a good pitch and take him the other way a little bit," he said.
