This article about the Baltimore Orioles-Toronto Blue Jays baseball game incorrectly described some of the action in the seventh inning. Alex Rios, not Vernon Wells, hit a bases-loaded triple for Toronto, cutting Baltimore's lead to 6-5. Wells's subsequent single tied the score at 6.
O's Bullpen, Defense Let One Get Away
Ineffective Relief, Two Errors in the Ninth Allow Toronto to Come From Behind: Blue Jays 7, Orioles 6
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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
TORONTO, July 8 -- As most of his teammates began scattering quickly from the clubhouse at the cavernous Rogers Centre, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Freddie Bynum found a quiet corner on the steps leading to the visitor's dugout, where for a few minutes he sat by himself.
"If you watched the game, you saw what happened," Bynum said later on, the sting of a 7-6 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays still too fresh to speak further. "There's no need to talk to me."
It was his error in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday night that provided the Blue Jays with the winning run -- a through-the-legs blunder on a grounder by Scott Rolen that should have been an out. But even though it was his gaffe that brought joy to the 23,276 fans gathered here, it was clear that in making the mistakes that led to the squandering of a
four-run lead, Bynum was hardly alone.
Catcher Ramón Hernández's throwing error while trying to catch Alex Rios stealing second in the ninth put the speedy runner on third base, making it all too easy to score when Rolen's grounder scooted through Bynum's legs.
Despite the late mistakes, the game was really lost in the seventh inning, when the real damage was done.
Heading into Tuesday night's game, the Orioles were 29-3 when leading after six innings, a testament to the role of what had been a revamped bullpen. But that same bullpen has been recently been ravaged by attrition, a combination of injuries and ineffectiveness.
So, on a day in which the Orioles placed a first-round draft pick on the disabled list and replaced him with a 33-year-old reliever making his major league debut, it was only appropriate that the Orioles' bullpen went down as the primary culprit for the loss.
Baltimore led 6-2 entering the seventh inning behind a pair of RBI each from Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff, who earlier hit his 18th homer of the season. But when starter Daniel Cabrera ran into trouble in the seventh inning, the bullpen failed to respond, allowing the Blue Jays to tie the game and hit the reset button on what had appeared to be a good night for Baltimore.
"What Toronto did in the seventh inning, they showed a lot of patience," Orioles Manager Dave Trembley said. "[Dennis] Sarfate was getting behind and they fouled off some pitches. They made him come across the plate."
The first signs of trouble came from the starter, Cabrera, who left after 6 1/3 innings. Cabrera looked solid until the seventh, when he allowed hits to two of the three men he faced.
"I'm supposed to get out of that inning," Cabrera said. "It's not good. When you're six outs away from winning the game and you lose, it's bad."
